By Ian S Palmer
The interim WBC Bantamweight Title is on the line this Saturday, Dec. 19th as former IBF Champion Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico takes on unbeaten Reymart Gaballo of the Philippines. The 12-round bout from the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut can be seen live in America on Showtime while fans in the UK can catch it on Premier Sports and those in Canada can see it on TSN 5. Rodriguez last fought in May, 2019 when he was stopped in the second round by Naoya Inoue in the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series. Gaballo stopped Chaiwat Buatkrathok in the sixth round last December the last time out.
The 28-year-old Rodriguez enters the contest with a mark of 19-1 with 12 K’s with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Inoue. He’s boxed 103 rounds since turning pro in 2012. The native of Manati has pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 60 per cent. He won the vacant IBF Bantamweight Belt with a unanimous decision win over Paul Butler in May, 2018 after Butler came in overweight and the title being up for grabs only for Rodriguez.
He then defended the title five months later with a split decision over Jason Moloney before losing it to Inoue. Since turning pro he’s Rodriguez has also captured various regional titles such as the WBO Latino, WBA Fedelatin and WBC Latino Bantamweight Championships. He enjoyed a fine amateur career with a solid record of 171-11 and won a gold medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Rodriguez stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a wingspan of 66.5 inches. He also has victories over the likes of Luis Hinojosa, Alex Rangel, Miguel Cartagena, Elicier Aqueno, Alberto Guevara and Giovanni Delgado. It’ll be interesting to see how much ring rust he has and how he bounces back from the beat down by Inoue.
As for Gaballo, he’s just 24 years old and climbs into the ring with a perfect record of 23-0 with 20 big Ko’s. He obviously carries a lot of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 87 per cent and has boxed just 61 rounds since turning pro in 2014. Gaballo’s Nicknamed “Assassin,” Gaballo also had a pretty good amateur career and won a bronze medal as a flyweight in the junior division at the PLDT-ABAP National Boxing Championships in 2013.
Gaballo stands 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 68-inch reach which means he’s the same height as Rodriguez with a 1.5-inch edge in reach. He’s fought mainly against domestic opponents in the Philippines but this will be his fourth bout in America and reportedly trains in Miami. Most of his opponents are unrecognizable to the average boxing fan other than perhaps Rocky Alvarez, Bryan Sansom, Ernesto Guerrero and Yeison Vargas. He also beat Stephon Young by 12-round unanimous decision in 2018 for the interim WBA Bantamweight Title.
Prediction…
Gaballo has been blasting his way through opponents with 12 first-round knockouts and four in the second stanza. He’s got power but just nine of his 23 opponents have had winning records. However, none of his last eight had losing records so he’s steadily climbing the ladder. Rodriguez didn’t make it out of the second round against Inoue as he was down three times in the stanza. He was originally supposed to meet Nonito Donaire this weekend, but The Filipino Flash came down with Covid-19. In fact, Donaire was supposed to meet WBC champ Nordine Oubaali, but he also caught the virus and Rodriguez took his place. Gaballo was scheduled to meet Jose Velasquez on the card but now gets gets the interim title shot. I have a feeling Gaballo’s going to take advantage of it and leave the ring with the belt.
