Bunola native Salka suffers TKO to Vargas on national TV fight

Bunola native “Lightning” Rod Salka had a tough fight on national TV in a TKO loss to Francisco “El Bandido” Vargas in a 10-round super featherweight fight in the main even of Golden Boy Boxing’s event on Thursday night at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.
Vargas (25-1-1, 18 KOs) wore down the Elizabeth Forward graduate with power punches through the first four rounds before dropping Salka (24-5, 4 KOs) with right upper-cut midway through the fifth.
Salka was able to finish the round, and after suffering another tough round in the sixth, his corner stopped the fight between rounds.
Coal Center native Buzz Garnic Jr. was in Salka’s corner, but decided to stop the fight rather than risk permanent injury to his pugilist.
CompuBox statistics had Vargas landing 27 percent (112-415) of his punches, while Salka landed 18 percent (75-412). Neither fighter landed many jabs, but Vargas had the edge in landing 11 percent (20-176) to Salka’s four (4-111).
Salka attempted more power punches (301) than Vargas (239) but only landed 71 for 24 percent. Vargas landed 92 for 39 percent.
Vargas was never in trouble and won the first four rounds, 10-9, before a 10-8 round in the fifth. He had a 10-9 round in the sixth.
Vargas is a two-time Fight of the Year winner and former WBC Super Featherweight World Champion. His only loss was to current WBC Super Featherweight Champion Miguel “El Alacran” Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) on Jan. 28, 2017.
Salka didn’t speak with any members of the media on national TV following the fight, but hinted prior to the bout that he would retire if the he did not win or have a competitive bout.
The bout was aired on ESPN2, and Golden Boy Boxing CEO and former 10-time world champion Oscar De Lay Hoya was in the right after the fight to congratulate Vargas, who is one of the fighters for the promotion.