Manny Rodríguez is the victim of a controversial decision in his fight for the title

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boric Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez suffered a controversial split decision last night against the Filipino Reymart Gaballo which prevented him from being crowned interim world champion in the £ 122 division.

Judges saw Gaballo win 116-112, 110-118 and 115-113 in the Connecticut fight for the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt.

Rodriguez was seeking to rule temporarily at 122 pounds. He won that International Boxing Federation (IBF) title in 2018. He defended it once and lost to Japanese puncher Naoya Inoue, in an attempt to unify the weight title with the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt.

Gaballo, undefeated in 23 attacks, became Rodríguez’s rival only because his original opponent, fellow Filipino and former world champion Nonito Donaire, tested positive for COVID-19 and could not fight for the title.

Rodriguez seemed to dominate Gaballo throughout the fight using his jab and controlling the fight. He may not have been aggressive with offense, but he seemed to win the fight with defense and boxing. He was effective in the style of retaliation against Gaballo, who was the aggressor.

“It was a good fight, but he only won two or three rounds.”Rodriguez told the press. “For every two shots of mine, there was one of them. He knows he lost. Everyone knows we win. My corner told me to go out and box it in the final rounds. We knew that our advantage was such that he needed a knockout in round 12. That was his only hope of winning. “

Rodriguez, coached by Freddie Trinidad, suffered a second loss in a row and fell to 19-2. It was the Puerto Rican’s first fight since falling in front of Inoue in 2019. He looked airy on Saturday, despite inactivity.

The decision was criticized by several sectors of boxing, such as promoters and the press, which covered the fight. These two sectors have seen Puerto Rican win without a doubt.

Gaballo, meanwhile, did not seem convinced of his victory, according to comments he made to the press after learning of the decision.

“I am happy and I am happy to have won the belt. I always went to the front. I controlled the pace of the fight so I thought it was a close fight and it could have gone either way“, said.

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