Pennsylvania-born boxer Rod Salka wanted to make a political statement in his match against Mexican fighter Francisco Vargas. But his message was dampened by a brutal knock down in the 5th round.

Salka, who is 35, wore shorts with the words “America 1st” printed on them. The shorts also displayed a brick wall, which was meant to be a symbol of President Trump’s much ballyhooed border wall between Mexico and the United States.

During the 5th round, 33-year-old “El Bandido” Vargas landed some body shots and connected with an uppercut that sent Salka tumbling back to the canvas.

The 6th round, Salka’s corner threw in the towel after the Tijuana-born Vargas’s flurry of punches continued.

Lmao enjoy getting plastered by a Mexican my guy pic.twitter.com/uQnETLC0vE — Phil Lo Grey-co (@BoxrecGrey) April 13, 2018

From Boxing Scene:

Vargas started off as expected, by pushing forward with big punches that were flying. Salka was catching him with counters, but his lack of power was not making a dent on the much bigger hitter. As the fight continued, Vargas continued to apply more pressure in each round and was throwing big punches to the head and body with very bad intentions. In the fifth round, Vargas and Salka were trading punches at close range when an uppercut landed and forced Salka to go down for a knee. He made it up at the count of eight as the bell sounded to end the round. Salka face was pretty bruised, and his body was red, as they entered the sixth round. During the sixth, Salka took a lot of punishment and suffered a bad cut around his left eye. The corner of Salka stopped the fight at the end of the round.

Watch a highlight from the fight below:

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

[Bad Left Hook] Featured image via @BoxrecGrey