Gaballo edges Rodriguez, wins WBC bantam belt

Sho Rodriguez Gaballo Fight Night Westcott 102
Photo: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

Unbeaten former WBA interim bantamweight champion Reymart Gaballo (24-0, 20 KOs) defeated former IBF bantamweight world champion Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez (19-2, 12 KOs) by controversial split decision to claim the vacant WBC interim bantamweight title over twelve rounds on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. In a slow-paced affair, Gaballo was the aggressor while Rodriguez seemingly controlled the action. Scores were 116-112, 115-113 Gaballo, 118-110 Rodriguez.

“I am very happy and blessed to win this belt,” said the 24-year-old Gaballo. “I was always moving forward and controlling the pace, so I thought it was a close fight that either of us could have won.”

“It was a good fight, but he only won about two or three rounds,” said Rodriguez. “There were two punches from me for every punch he landed. He knows he lost. Everyone knows we won. My team told me to go out and keep boxing him in the late rounds. We knew he needed a knockout in the twelfth round. That was his only chance to win.”

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    • This Judges just need to get investigated already.. What are the watching.. smh Rodriguez won that fight easy by boxing him..

      • Yeah, this was a bad decision. I had it about 8 rounds to 4 for Rodriguez. The weird part was most of the rounds weren’t all that close; only a couple were rounds that legitimately could’ve gone either way.

  • Emmanuel Rodriguez was absolutely hosed tonight. This is not on the level of Abril/Rios or Santa Cruz/Casamayor but it’s definitely up there. John McKaie and Don Trella both have judged over 2,000 fights combined. This is not incompetence…..these unscrupulous individuals were in the bag. Having a “bad night” doesn’t excuse this either. David Sutherland who was the lesser known of the three judges scored it spot on. It’s a shame he will likely be punished for doing his job correctly and with integrity. That being said…..I scored it 116-112 for Rodriguez.

    • If you pay off two judges guess it dosen’t matter if you let one score honestly.

      • It really doesn’t but David Sutherland now likely doesn’t get any title fights on PBC cards for a long time, if ever again. All these promoters have a list of the judges that they can’t buy off or brow beat and ones who have taken money under the table. The judges who bend to these promoters will always get assignments.

  • 100% robbery. Rodriquez outboxed Gaballo. Took him to boxing school. It is a shame this keeps happening in our sport.

  • i have watched a lot of boxing in my time, after watching the gaballo/rodriguez fight and seeing the scoring results, i don,t think the judges could have possibly been watching the same fight as me

  • Rodriguez gave a boxing clinic and was robbed. Bad, incompetent judges are the biggest problem in boxing today

  • Something has to be done about all these bad decisions in boxing, one after the other. Rodriguez clearly outboxed the Filipino. The Showtime commentators both in English and Spanish agreed on that. Another bad decision was Russell vs Payano. The idea is to keep the unbeaten records of the boxers. It shoudn’t be that way.

    • Payano did no worse than a draw. They had to pull on the heart string with Russell’s younger brothers death (which is very sad btw) and give him an inconclusive victory. It’s all about protecting records and keeping the fights in house along with paying off judges. Can’t have the promoters making logical moves by spending more money to make legit fights. SMH.

  • This is why people continue to loose faith in Boxing. Thank You for making me a MMA follower

  • This is the reason boxing is dying , Showtime and MP making sure their protégé last at least 2 more figths undefeated, the worst 2 judges in the freaking world , Gaballo only win 2 rounds….bah no more subscription to Showtime bye boxing

  • Gaballo got a gift decision. Canelo continues to avoid GGG hoping in time he will retire. GGG showed his power but Canelo didn’t.

    • GGG showed power against a punching bag while Canelo beat up the Ring champion at 168. When guys fight top opponents…..you aren’t always going to knock them out. Sounds like you wanted to spam your propaganda on an article that had nothing to do with that.

  • highway robbery the wbc should order a rematch right away no way should this boxer be any kind of champion.

  • This is why I hate boxing. The politics and the back door, under the table deals. You don’t see this in MMA matches.

  • Boxing is a big mess right now. With promoters influencing judges in one way or another to protect their investments in this era of marketing so call undefeated fighters.

  • BS decisions like the one given on this fight, is what turns fans away from Boxing!! This dude Gaballo may have won 1 or 2 rounds in the entire fight!! The judges forget that aggressiveness can only be counted when it is EFFECTIVE aggression!! Rodriguez and his team should appeal to the WBC, to have the judges, ref, Rodriguez’s team, and Gaballo’s team sit down and watch the fight!! I’m sure they will come up with the RIGHT decision!!

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