Just as Antonio Vargas was steadily touching Jesse Rodriguez, 'Bam' started to crank 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 riveting sixth-round knockout in snatching the WBA bantamweight world title Saturday night. The victory at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, and live on DAZN , crowned Rodriguez a three-division world champion — something that will only increase the groundswell for a mega clash with undisputed 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."
Here are the full round-by-round results from the Rodriguez-Vargas headliner and the rest of the main card updates.