Rene Tellez Giron paid Saturday night for coming in overweight Friday and agreeing to fight an unbeaten southpaw instead of his original opponent.

Giovanni Cabrera’s awkward style gave Giron a lot of trouble in their eight-round junior welterweight fight in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 5-foot-4 Giron couldn’t get inside on the rangy, 5-feet-8 Cabrera with any regularity and got out-worked by an elusive, smart opponent who is trained by International Boxing Hall of Famer Freddie Roach.

The 27-year-old Cabrera beat the rugged Giron by unanimous decision in a fight ESPN televised as the co-feature before junior lightweights Xavier Martinez and Robson Conceicao met in the 10-round main event at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Judges Greg DeVibbis (78-74), David Sutherland (78-74) and Henry Ellick (77-75) scored their fight for Cabrera.

Chicago’s Cabrera (19-0, 7 KOs) was supposed to box Mexican journeyman Rafael Reyes (20-13, 16 KOs) in a non-televised four-rounder Saturday night. He instead replaced Luis Melendez (17-1, 13 KOs) as Giron’s opponent because Giron came in five pounds over their contracted maximum of 132 pounds.

Cabrera made the most of his opportunity by out-maneuvering and out-smarting Mexico’s Giron (16-2, 10 KOs), who is most known for upsetting 2016 U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas (11-1, 10 KOs) by sixth-round knockout in December 2019 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

Cabrera caught Giron with a straight left that knocked him off balance with 1:40 on the clock in the eighth and final round.

Cabrera’s left-right combination connected with just under 50 seconds remaining in the seventh round. Giron drilled Cabrera with a straight right when 43 seconds were left in the seventh round.

Giron had difficulty catching Cabrera with flush punches during the sixth round, when the elusive southpaw defended himself well. A hard jab by Cabrera snapped back Giron’s head with a minute to go in the sixth round.

A left hand by Cabrera backed up Giron with 20 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Giron promptly fired back with a left hook that landed and made Cabrera retreat.

A left hook by Giron landed with just under a minute remaining in the fifth round. Giron’s right hand landed well below Cabrera’s belt with just over 30 seconds on the clock in the fifth round.

Giron missed wildly with a right hand and went through the ropes with 1:12 on the clock in the fourth round. A hard right hand by Giron knocked Cabrera off balance with exactly one minute to go in the fourth round.

A sweeping left hook by Giron landed about 40 seconds into the third round. Cabrera picked apart Giron as he pressed forward, with his head down, later in the third round.

Giron lunged and landed a left hook just before the third round concluded.

Giron landed a hard right to Cabrera’s body toward the end of the second round. Cabrera held Giron after that shot landed.

Cabrera backed Giron into the ropes and landed several punches 20 seconds into the opening round. He established distance later for most of the first round and occasionally landed left hands.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.