Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez added another milestone to his growing legacy by becoming a three-weight world champion after stopping Antonio Vargas via sixth-round technical knockout in Glendale, Arizona.
The unbeaten American produced a commanding performance at Desert Diamond Arena, dethroning Vargas, who was making a defence of his WBA bantamweight title.
Rodriguez first put Vargas on the canvas in the fourth round before sealing victory in the sixth with a powerful left hand that prompted the referee to halt the contest.
The 26-year-old improved his professional record to 24-0 and added the bantamweight crown to world titles he has previously held at flyweight and super-flyweight.
With the victory, Rodriguez has positioned himself for several high-profile opportunities. He could remain at bantamweight to pursue a unification bout against WBO champion Christian Medina, while speculation also continues to link him with a move up to super-bantamweight to challenge undisputed champion Naoya Inoue.
"I'm ready for whoever, whenever," Rodriguez said after the fight.
"Put them in front of me, and I'm going to say yes."
Rodriguez's dominance was reflected in the punch statistics, landing 81 of his 213 punches (38 per cent), compared to Vargas' 81 from 279 attempts (29 per cent).
The defeat was only the second of Vargas' professional career and his first loss since 2019. The American had previously fought Daigo Higa to a draw in his first bantamweight title defence last July.
Despite the convincing win, Rodriguez praised his opponent's resilience.
"He was a lot tougher than I thought," he said.
"He had good power in his punches. I didn't think he hit that hard.
"Even after the first knockdown, he got up and fought like it never happened. Respect to him."
