Jesse Rodriguez KO6 Antonio Vargas... Just as Antonio Vargas was steadily connecting against Jesse Rodriguez, 'Bam' cranked up the heat. That led to Rodriguez dropping Vargas with a left hand in the fifth round and again with an explosive right-left combination the next frame to record a sixth-round knockout at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, and live on DAZN. The win gave Rodriguez the WBA bantamweight world title, making him a three-division champion. [*-Editor's note: the WBA bantamweight title really belongs to Seiya Tsutsumi of Japan. Tsutsumi was the WBA champion but recently got demoted to champion in recess by the WBA for no apparent reason, while Vargas was promoted from interim champion to champion, seemingly to facilitate Rodriguez gaining the opportunity to become a thre-division champion].  

 

The victory continues to raise Rodriguez on the pound-for-pound lists, something that will only increase the groundswell for a mega clash with undisputed world super bantamweight ruler Naoya Inoue. To that prospect, Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KOs) simply stated to DAZN's Chris Mannix: "I'm ready for whoever, whenever."