Rey Vargasis still the champion…

In what’s described as “an often awkward and ugly affair” over the weekend at the Dignity Health Sports Park, the 28-year-old Mexican professional boxer retained his WBC junior featherweight title by outpointing Japanese challenger Tomoki Kameda.

All three judges scored the fight 117-110 for Vargas.

Loud boos poured in at the end of the bout and after the decision was rendered; while Vargas (34-0, 22 KOs) was effective, he was far from exciting. Kameda (36-3, 20 KOs) certainly tried his best to make a fight, but his efforts were mostly futile.

While the decision was unpopular, it was the correct one.

Vargas is one of the toughest matchups in boxing. Listed at nearly 5-foot-11 — significantly tall for a 122-pounder — he can control distance from the outside and is adept at smothering his foes as they get close. While not a particularly crowd-pleasing style, it works for Vargas, who methodically wins one round after another.

That continued Saturday night.

 “The idea was to throw a lot of punches and to have a very intelligent fight,” said Vargas, who made his fifth title defense. “I believe that we made this a very smart fight, an intelligent one. This is a boxer’s style, to fight with precision. I believe that he brought a lot of fans from Japan, and that’s why they don’t agree with the decision.”

Kameda tried his best to close the gap and rush inside on Vargas, but oftentimes he was devoid of the jab and had problems gauging distance. That left him in positions where he couldn’t land clean punches and then ended up in a clinch with the champ.

“First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone,” Kameda said. “I recognize Vargas. I believe that he won the fight tonight, and I respect him as a champion. He won. I need to learn and to practice more in order to get another chance to be champion again. I am very grateful for all the Mexican people. I want to be world champion again.”

Moving forward, Vargas would like to add a couple of more belts to his collection. Asked whom he wanted to face next, he pointed to the IBF and WBAbelt holder.

“Danny Roman,” Vargas said. “We need to unify titles — why not? I want all three titles. Danny, we are ready. I am ready whenever you want to fight. You know when a Mexican fights another Mexican, it’s a war.”