For his boxing match Thursday night, Rod Salka of Pennsylvania wore trunks in the design of a Trumpian wall with the slogan "America 1st" stripped across front of the waistband. Salka's opponent was Francisco Vargas. Vargas is from Mexico.
Oh, the wit!
Vargas knocked Salka down in the fifth round. He opened a cut above Salka's left eye in the sixth. Salka's corner threw in the towel before the seventh.
Oh, the metaphors!
Ring Magazine reporter Ryan Songalia's tweet, showing a video clip of the knockdown, has helped this story go viral.
Rod Salka wore “America 1st” and a wall pattern on his trunks against Mexican fighter Francisco Vargas, and ended up getting his ass kicked #boxing pic.twitter.com/CmNfIeU6X1
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) April 13, 2018
Scheduled for 10 rounds, the super-featherweight bout was held at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Vargas improved to 25-1-2. Salka dropped to 24-5.
Although he had won five consecutive fights before Thursday, Salka was considered the decided underdog against Vargas, so his fashion statement might have been an attempt to gain a mental edge. (Oops.) Or maybe he's a believer in there being no such thing as bad publicity. After all, he took the loss, as most boxing observers had expected, but at least for one news cycle, Rod Salka made a name for himself.