Antonio Vargas is one step closer to realizing his full championship potential.

In a back-and-forth affair, Vargas recovered from a second-round knockdown and dropped and stopped Winston Guerrero for a 10th-round technical knockout win for the WBA interim junior bantamweight title on Friday night.

The fight served as the main event for the Most Valuable Promotions show at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida on DAZN, held in conjunction with the WBA's annual convention.

With the victory, Vargas (19-1, 11 KOs) set himself up for a title shot against full titleholder Seiya Tsutsumi. The performance against Guerrero (22-1, 13 KOs) was an indicator that the 2016 United States Olympian is willing to walk through fire to get the job done.

In the first round, Vargas, who was dropped in the opening frame of his last fight against Jonathan Rodriguez in February, was the one doing the knocking down this time around against Guerrero, flooring the Nicaraguan with an overhand left in the first 30 seconds of the fight. Guerrero quickly got a rude welcome to the fight, but he was stable on his feet for the rest of the round.

With 40 seconds left in the second round, Guerrero retaliated with a seven-punch combination that was capped off by an overhand right that rocked and dropped Vargas.

Vargas got back up on wobbly legs and swung away but appeared fully recovered in the third and started walking Guerrero down. But it was Guerrero who was landing the combinations off his back foot.

The 28-year-old Vargas started establishing his lead left hand a lot more in the fourth and fifth rounds, but Guerrero, 24, was the busier fighter, outworking Vargas with a volume of punches.

Vargas established a stinging jab in the sixth, setting up several big rights that followed.

In the seventh, Vargas started taking over with combinations to the body at the advice of his corner.

Guerrero, having never fought past the eighth round in his six-year career, didn’t handle uncharted waters well and got hit with two big rights and a left in the final minute of the frame.

Vargas pulled away in the ninth and sealed the deal in the tenth by securing the stoppage. He pressed Guerrero against the ropes with a minute left and connected with two big right hands. A flurry of unanswered punches followed and Guerrero’s corner threw in the towel almost simultaneously as referee Christopher Young stopped the action at the 2:10 mark of the round.

Vargas landed 203 of 727 punches and Guerrero connected with 76 of 667 shots.

“This was a stepping stone to the world title,” said Vargas. “I’ve been waiting for the WBA. I’m ranked No. 1. People have been avoiding me but it’s my time. They can’t run any longer.

“My dream is to become undisputed champion at 118, and take over the division. All of the champions are in Japan right now so I want to go over there and dethrone them and bring the belts back to America. That’s my next step.”

In the co-main event, lightweight prospect Javon Walton (2-0-1, 1 KO) escaped a shaky scorecard to score a four-round majority decision against Erik Hanley (1-2, 1 KO). Two judges had it a shutout for the southpaw Walton, while a third curiously had it 38-38. Walton, 18, best known for his breakout role as "Ashtray" on HBO’s “Euphoria,” landed 62 shots while showing off his blazing fast left hands in the fight compared to 33 connects from Hanley.

Heavyweight Dainier Pero (10-0, 8 KOs) crushed Walter Burns (8-3, 6 KOs) to score an easy first-round stoppage win. It was the Cuban southpaw Olympian’s sixth straight win via technical knockout. Pero blasted Burns twice with big head shots, knocking him down each time and the fight was waved off at the 2:50 mark of the opening round. Pero landed a total of 18 punches in the round.

Two-time Canadian Olympian Tamm Thibeault (1-0) made her professional debut – and promotional debut with MVP – in style by scoring a shutout unanimous decision win that took place over four, three-minute rounds against Natasha Spence (8-7-2, 6 KOs). Each of the three judges scored the contest 40-36 in favor of Thibeault, who had a 64 to 15 advantage in landed punches by leveraging her length.

Junior middleweight Jocksan Blanco (8-0, 4 KOs) outlasted Jeovanny Estela (14-2, 5 KOs) in an eight-round majority decision win by scores of 77-75, 77-75, 76-76.

Armenian heavyweight Gurgen Hovhannisyan (7-0, 6 KOs) survived the toughest test of his young career, beating Samoan Patrick Mailata (6-3, 3 KOs) in a hard-fought eight-round battle that left more to be desired from his defense. Hovhannisyan, who is coached by Hall of Fame trainer Joe Goossen, was in control for most of the fight but Mailata wobbled “Big Gug” a handful of times with powerful punches throughout the tussle. Hovhannisyan had bruising around his right eye and forehead area while breathing a sigh of relief as the scores of 77-75, 77-75, 76-76 were announced. It was the first time the three-year pro fought to hear the final bell.

Hendri Cedeño (15-0, 11 KOs) remained unbeaten against Luis Hernandez Ramos (23-6, 20 KOs) in their eight-round junior welterweight fight by scoring a unanimous decision win via scores of 79-73, 79-73, 78-74.

Lightweight Fradimil Macayo (18-1, 14 KOs), ranked No. 7 by the WBA, knocked out former featherweight title challenger Oscar Escandon (27-9, 18 KOs) with a body shot 26 seconds into the second round.

Junior middleweight Alex Bray (8-0, 6 KOs) scored a first-round TKO win against Gaston Rios (10-2, 7 KOs).

Junior middleweight Antreveous Ingram (9-0, 4 KOs) scored a first-round TKO victory versus Freddy Espinoza (10-8, 7 KOs).

Middleweight Jamar Pemberton (8-1, 5 KOs) outlasted Kahlil Mitchell (4-1, 2 KOs) for a six-round majority decision win by scores of 57-55, 57-55, 56-56.