Rodriguez, who has hammered five foes in a row for stoppage wins, hasn’t needed to unveil all of his shiny tools from the cabinet because he’s mostly drilled opponents with laser-like precision.

Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs) is a 25-1 favorite to dethrone recently named WBA bantamweight titleholder Antonio Vargas (19-1-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC) with ease Saturday night at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. DAZN will stream his 118-pound division debut worldwide, with undercard coverage set to start at 8 p.m. ET (1 a.m. BST).

“I feel that I do have a lot more I can show to the fans,” Rodriguez told The Ring. “In past fights, I haven’t had to show a hundred percent of myself. As the fights get tougher, the better I perform.

“My mentality is that I just go in there and do what I have to do. I have a more relaxed style now with all of the experience that I have picked up along the way. I’m more confident now in the ring.”

Rodriguez’s dominance and pedigree have been rewarded with pound-for-pound plaudits – he is ranked No. 4 in The Ring’s top 10. The San Antonio native confirmed that his days in the 115-pound division are done as he moves closer to an inevitable fight against 122-pound undisputed champion Naoya Inoue.

“They could have thrown any world champion at 118, and we would have said yes,” Rodriguez said. “Vargas happened to be the one that was willing to fight me. The fight presented itself, we got it done, and here we are.

“I haven’t seen much of Vargas, so I can’t speak much on the [dangers he presents as an opponent]. But I know that he’s a tough fighter with speed. I am expecting a tough fight on June 13.”

Rodriguez and Vargas aren’t complete strangers, though.

In 2016, while Vargas was preparing for an Olympic run with the United States team, they sparred with each other for a few rounds. But Rodriguez doesn’t recall much from the decade-ago dance.

“I remember he was quick, but that’s about it,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez last fought November 22, when he knocked out Fernando Martinez in the 10th round to win the WBA 115-pound title as part of “The Ring IV: Night of the Champions” show at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Rodriguez, 26, entered that bout as Ring, WBC and WBO champ.

Dealing with dad duties and witnessing the birth of his second child on FaceTime days before his fight in Riyadh proved to be a more laborious task than delivering the win against Martinez.

“I went out there and did what I had to do, put on a great performance, and looked great doing it,” Rodriguez said. “We got the job done.”

In recent months, Rodriguez also had to navigate free agency. The dynamic southpaw has been promoted by Eddie Hearn ever since his breakout win against Carlos Cuadras in 2022, but he came close to signing with Zuffa Boxing.

“Matchroom was able to match the offer from Zuffa, and we ended up resigning with Matchroom,” Rodriguez said. “Deep down, that’s exactly what I wanted to happen, and I got what I wanted.”

Rodriguez aims to become a three-division champion by beating Vargas. The next milestone he wants to reach is becoming more of a mainstream star, similar to his pound-for-pound American brethren in Shakur Stevenson, David Benavidez and Devin Haney.

“I've gotten a lot further [to being a mainstream star] than most fighters in my weight class have,” Rodriguez said. “I need to keep doing what I am doing and knocking opponents out. With that, you gain more fans, and that’s what I look to continue doing.”

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.