Substitute Filipino fighter Reymart Gaballo attacked fearlessly from the start and came away with a hard-fought split decision victory against sharp-shooting Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico
Gaballo’s efforts earned him the World Boxing Council interim bantamweight championship on Saturday evening (Sunday morning Manila time) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville Connecticut.
Gaballo’s good fortune came after he replaced Nonito Donaire who submitted a positive COVID-19 test in early December.
Two of the judges in the 12-round encounter scored it for Gaballo (116-112 and 115-113) while the third put the fight, 118-110, in favor of Rodriguez.
This allowed Gaballo to maintain his unbeaten streak as he picked up his 24th win (with 20 KOs) without a loss.
Rodriguez, who suffered his second straight setback, dropped to a 19-2 win-loss card.
The General Santos City pug started by being aggressive, forcing Rodriguez to keep his distance, and just wait for the Filipino to come in.
The Puerto Rican then leaned on his jabs in his bid to keep Gaballo off-balance.
For the first three rounds, Gaballo kept attacking, and threw more punches while Rodriguez was more conservative.
The Puerto Rican was more accurate with his punches but the aggressive Gaballo eked out the victory.
The victory should pave the way for Caballo to take a crack at the regular WBC belt held by Nordine Oubaali.
Oubaali was originally set to defend his crown against Donaire, but also contracted COVID-19. That led to Rodriguez taking his spot in the title bout.