It was aggression over accuracy as Reymart Gaballo picked up a highly-contested split decision victory against the sharp-shooting Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico to win the World Boxing Council interim bantamweight championship, Saturday evening (Sunday morning Manila time) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville Connecticut.
Stepping in for Nonito Donaire who submitted a positive COVID-19 test in early December, Gaballo took a significant step up in opposition by taking on Rodriguez. Even though the Puerto Rican had fewer fights, his opponents were significantly better including Naoya Inoue in his last fight.
After 12 rounds, two of the judges scored it for Gaballo (116-112 and 115-113) while the third scored the fight 118-110 for Rodriguez. Gaballo kept his clean record, picking up his 24th win, while Rodriguez suffered his second straight loss to fall to 19 and two.
Gaballo started the match throwing heavy leather while Rodriguez stayed on the outside, waiting for the Filipino to come in. The Puerto Rican banked on his stiff jab to keep Gaballo off-balance but it failed to dissuade the 24-year-old fighter from General Santos City from forcing the action by moving forward.
The first three rounds played out the same. Gaballo moved forward and threw more while Rodriguez was more economical but also but more accurate with his punches.
The Puerto Rican found the opening he was looking for in the fourth round as he staggered Gaballo with a right hand coming in. Gaballo's legs wobbled but he luckily escaped a knockdown as he landed on the ropes. His right glove also missed the canvass by only a couple of inches with the referee right on top of the action.
The Filipino rebounded nicely the rest of the fourth round as he also opened up a cut on the bridge of his foe's noes.
Rodriguez continued to pick his spots from the outside as Gaballo found it hard to connect clean punches. The 28-year-old Puerto Rican worked smart, only letting his hands go when he knows his aggressive opponent was not in a position to throw heavy leather anymore.
Gaballo found his opening in the eighth round as he hurt Rodriguez with a picture-perfect left hook. However, the veteran rode it out and recovered before the Filipino could inflict more damage.
Rodriguez then returned the favor in the very next round as he wobbled Gaballo again early in the tenth with another stiff jab but the Filipino kept moving forward and stayed active, convincing two of the judges to score more rounds for him.
It is Gaballo's second time to win an interim title as he also won the WBA interim bantamweight title with a win over Stephon Young in 2018.
Moving forward for Gaballo, the target should be Nordine Oubaali, the WBC bantamweight champion in recess, who was supposed to go up against Donaire originally on the fight card.
Naoya Inoue holds the WBA and IBF versions of the world title, while John Riel Casimero is the WBO champion.