WBA super flyweight champion Hugo Cazares (35-6-2, 25KOs) retained his title with a third round stoppage on Arturo “Fuerte” Badillo (20-2, 18KOs), who went down three times in the third before the referee stopped the fight.

Cazares was clearly the stronger man from the opening round and pushed Badillo back. In the second, the challenger had no answers for the champion’s left hand, which landed on a regular basis. And then Cazares closed the show in the third when he let his hands fly and battered Badillo into submission

“It’s not that the fight was easy, because there are always risks in the ring. What’s hard is the daily work schedule in order to be in the best physical and mental condition possible, and here is the result. We worked hard on the strategy, on my defense and my attacks, and that was the difference,” said the champion.

Cazares wants to move forward with unifying the division. He wants to fight Cristian Mijares and Tomas Rojas. If he can’t get those fights, he’s willing to move up to bantamweight to challenge Koki Kameda or Vic Darchinyan.