Manny Rodriguez falls victim to the judges in his starting fight

the boricua Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez suffered a controversial split decision last night against the Filipino Reymart Gaballo which prevented him from being able to be crowned as interim world champion in the 122-pound division.

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

He (Gaballo) knows he lost. Everyone knows we won. “

-Manny Rodriguez, Puerto Rican boxer

Rodriguez sought to reign temporarily in the 122 pounds. He won this International Boxing Federation (FIB) title in 2018. He defended it once and lost it to Japanese hitter Naoya Inoue in an attempt to unify the title of the weight with the World Council’s belt Box (CMB).

Gaballo, undefeated in 23 fights, recently became Rodriguez’s rival because the original opponent, also Filipino and former world champion Nonito Donaire, tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to 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 his offense, but he seemed to win the fight with his 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 media. “For every two times I connected, there was one of mine. He knows he lost. Everyone knows we won. My corner told me to come out and box him in the final rounds. We knew our advantage was such that he needed a knockout at the height of assault 12. That was his only hope of winning. “

Rodriguez, coached by Freddie Trinidad, suffered his second straight defeat and fell to a 19-2 record. It was the boricua’s first fight since falling to Inoue in 2019. It looked airy on Saturday despite inactivity.

The decision was criticized by multiple sectors of boxing, such as promoters and the press, which covered the fight. These two sectors no doubt saw the boricua win.

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

“I’m happy and I’m blessed to have won the belt. I was always going to the front. I controlled the pace of the fight, so I thought it was a closed fight and that it could have gone either way“, He said.