Manny Rodríguez falls victim to the judges in his title fight

The Boricua Emmanuel “Manny” Rodríguez suffered a controversial split decision against the Philippines last night Reymart Gaballo preventing him from being crowned Interim World Champion in the 122-pound division.

The judges saw Gaballo win 116-112, 110-118 and 115-113 in the Connecticut contest.

He (Gaballo) knows he has lost. Everyone knows we have won ”.

-Manny Rodríguez, Puerto Rican boxer

Rodriguez wanted to reign on an interim basis at 122 pounds. He won that title from the International Boxing Federation (IBF) in 2018. He defended it once, losing it to Japanese puncher Naoya Inoue in an attempt to unify the weight title with the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt.

Gaballo, unbeaten in 23 games, only became Rodríguez’s rival as the original opponent, fellow Filipino and former world champion Nonito Donaire, tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to fight for the title.

Rodriguez appeared to dominate Gaballo during the fight with his jab and controlling the fight. Maybe he wasn’t aggressive with his attack, but he seemed to win the fight with his defense and boxing. It was effective in the style of riposta against Gaballo, who was the aggressor.

“It was a good fight, but he only won two or three rounds.”Rodríguez told the media. “For every two connected hits of mine, there was one of his. He knows he has lost. Everyone knows we win. My corner told me to come out and box him in the final rounds. We knew our advantage was so great that he needed a knockout in the 12th round. That was his only hope of winning. “

Rodriguez, coached by Freddie Trinidad, suffered his second loss in a row, falling to 19-2. It was the Puerto Rican’s first fight since falling against Inoue in 2019. Despite the inactivity, he looked lighthearted on Saturday.

The decision was criticized by multiple sectors of boxing, such as promoters and the press, who covered the fight. Those two sectors saw the Puerto Rican win without a doubt.

Gaballo, for his part, seemed unconvinced of his win, according to comments he made to the press after learning of the decision.

“I am happy and I feel blessed to have won the band. I always went forward. I controlled the pace of the fight so I thought it was a close fight and it could have gone either waysaid.