“That’s exactly what this is: always challenging myself and trying to prove myself every time,” Rodriguez told BoxingScene on Wednesday in his first public comments on the DAZN main event.

It marks the 26-year-old Rodriguez’s fourth bout in the Valley of the Sun after he won his first belt there by defeating former belt holder Carlos Cuadras by unanimous decision, then returned to win a unified flyweight title by stopping England’s Sunny Edwards before knocking out two-division champion Juan Francisco Estrada in 2024.

“It’s like a second hometown of mine, and I’m very excited to go back,” Rodriguez said following a two-hour training session during his second week in camp.

During the workout, Rodriguez went through a light shadowboxing session while ducking his head under ropes attached to all four corners of the ring, then battered the padded body of an assistant trainer while grunting through hellacious punches before finally pressing through a routine of stationary bike, medicine-ball upward throws and rope whipping.

“It’s the same thing: working hard, pushing myself past my limits so I know I’m more than ready on fight night,” Rodriguez said.

Against Florida’s Vargas, Rodriguez will meet a secondary titlist who has fought out of his home state only twice, blemished by a draw in Japan versus Daigo Higa on July 30.

The bout launches Rodriguez’s new, lucrative contract with promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, a multi-year deal that has room for the fighter to go after a showdown with Japan’s undisputed junior featherweight and pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue, who is headed to an expected difficult defense May 2 versus recent bantamweight champion and countryman Junto Nakatani in front of an expected crowd of 55,000 at Tokyo Dome.

Rodriguez trainer Robert Garcia said he and Rodriguez plan to watch the bout, and will be in position to meet the winner – Inoue is a -450 betting favorite – in 2027 after some unfinished business of standing as undisputed junior bantamweight champion.

Three-belt 115lbs champ Rodriguez has to wait out IBF titleholder Willibaldo Garcia’s mandatory title defense versus Australia’s Andrew Moloney on June 6 in Japan before seeking that winner later this year.

“It’s a fight that definitely needs to happen, and will happen,” Garcia said of Rodriguez versus the Inoue-Nakatani winner. “We’ve had conversations about it. The fight will happen after this year. When the right time comes, I know ‘Bam’ will jump on it.”

Because of Inoue’s drawing power, there’s a rooting interest in the four-division champion.

“It’s not an easy fight for Inoue,” Garcia said. “Nakatani’s a tough guy. I still pick Inoue to win.”

That tracks with Rodriguez’s fight mentality, and it’s why he’s on the fast track up the mythical pound-for-pound rankings.

“When you see him fight, that’s the best challenge available to him,” Garcia said. “He’s had a couple fights where the opponents are not that challenging for him – not a big name, not a big meaning – and he hasn’t performed well. He wants a new title, to be undisputed or to take a unification. … He’d rather not do a stay-busy fight.”

Becoming a three-division champion against Vargas is the incentive this time.

Rodriguez said not needing to shed the extra weight before this bout should have a major benefit.

“I feel a lot stronger not having to lose the three pounds,” he said. “Coming in as a 118-pounder should make me stronger for fight night.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.