Vargas (18-1, 10 KOs) started brightly in round one, looking to land sneaky left hooks behind a swift, snapping jab, but it was Rodriguez (17-2-1, 7 KOs), coming off a first-round destruction of Kal Yafai, who broke through first, dropping Vargas hard with a right hand in the final seconds of the first round.
Vargas, however, came out for the second round unperturbed by the knockdown, and opened up with a flurry of short, powerful punches, a left hook causing damage to Rodiguez’s right eye. Another barrage of punches had Rodriguez hurt and prompted him to drop to a knee, at which point Vargas landed another left hand with his Puerto Rican rival on the canvas. Referee Christopher Young deducted two points from Vargas for the transgression.
Both men settled down in the third, which saw the pace drop temporarily before the two resumed their offense in the fourth. A Rodriguez left hook seemed to buckle Vargas early, but Vargas responded in kind and followed with a right hand. A right hand from Vargas, followed by a left hook, landed at the bell, with the fight now a clear contest between the relaxed, compact style of Vargas and the more frenetic, longer power punches of Rodriguez.
Vargas, however, steadily assumed control in the fifth and sixth, and in the seventh landed another left hand behind Rodiguez’s guard and then, at the bell, dropped his rival hard with a left hook and follow-up right hand. Between rounds, Rodriguez’s chief second, who is also his father, looked concerned at his son’s condition, and before the bell rang for the eighth, indicated to referee Young that the contest was over. Official time was 3:00 of round 7.
In flyweight action, Yankiel Rivera survived a rocky ninth round to otherwise dominate Andy Dominguez (10-1, 6 KOs), swelling his Mexican opponent’s eyes en route to a wide unanimous decisoon. All three judges scored the round 99-91 for the Puerto Rican, fighting for the first time without his late father in his corner, who moves to 5-0 (2 KOs).