Bam Rodriguez is now a three-division world champion, stopping Antonio Vargas in the sixth round tonight in Glendale, Ariz., to win the WBA bantamweight title.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KO) did face a game opponent in Vargas (19-2-1, 11 KO), with Vargas landing some decent early shots and coming to fight and all that. But the \u201cstruggles\u201d of Rodriguez may get a little overstated. It\u2019s not really that unusual for him to lose a couple early rounds, or for that to be the case for a lot of top fighters in championship fights.<\/p>\n
In the end, he still finished this less than halfway into the scheduled distance. He\u2019d put Vargas down hard in the fifth round, and finished him with a peach of a short punch in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez gave Vargas his credit for bringing the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt great, I felt like I did everything right,\u201d Bam said. \u201cAntonio Vargas was a lot tougher than I expected. He had good pop in his punch, too. Thankfully I was able to get him out of there in the sixth. \u2026 I didn\u2019t think he had pop like that. I knew he had some. And he was a lot stronger than I thought. And even after that first knockdown, he got up and was fighting like nothing ever happened, so a lot of respect to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is Naoya Inoue next for Bam Rodriguez?<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was, of course, asked if super bantamweight king Naoya Inoue will be next. He played it cagey on live TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready for whoever, whenever,\u201d he said, before being asked again. \u201cWhoever they say. Throw \u2018em in front of me, I\u2019m gonna say yes. Eddie (Hearn) knows that, my whole team knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n