By Eric Thomas: Light middleweight contender Joel Julio (34-1, 31 KOs) destroyed the tough Jose Varela (23-4, 16 KOs) in a 6th round TKO on Wednesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Julio, 23, ranked number #4 in the IBF and WBC, #2 in the WBO and #5 in the WBA, totally dominated Varela, knocking him down an incredible six times in the bout, until finally the fight was stopped after the 6th round by Varela’s corner. In the sixth round, Julio knocked Varela down twice and hit him with some monstrous right hands, snapping his head back violently. It was a miracle that Varela got up both times from the knockdowns, for he was hit with some very big shots from Julio.
Originally from Colombia and now living in Miami, Florida, Julio was making his seventh appearance since losing by an upset to Carlos Quintana in a 12th round unanimous decision loss in June 2006. Julio showed the same kind of crushing power that he had in all his bouts, and unfortunately, he showed the same problems with lack of head movement and defense that plagued him in his loss to Quintana.
Julio landed heavy shots in the first round, hitting Varela with big right hands to the head. Julio’s hand speed and power were first rate, and gave the tough-chinned Varela a lot to be concerned with. Julio wasn’t particularly active with his punches, instead following Varela around and looking to load up with one big shot. This was his problem in his loss to Quintana, for he was much too concerned with trying to land exclusively big shots and ignored working on his boxing and movement.
In the second round, Julio started throwing much heavier shots at the start of the round, which immediately found Varela wanting, dropping him with a big right hand. He got up, looking glassy-eyed and was immediately dropped with a powerful left hook from Julio. Somehow, Varela was able to stay on his feet for the remainder of the round despite getting rained on by a high number of big punches from Julio for the remainder of the round. Varela, a tall, lanky 6’1″ fighter with little power, came after Julio in the last 20 seconds of the round, throwing weak jabs and trying to walk him down. He did succeed in getting Julio to back up, but it wasn’t with any kind of power shots, though.
Julio again scored a knockdown, this time it was from another big right hand at the start of the round that crashed off the jaw of Varela and sent him backwards to the canvas on his backside. Julio briefly attempted to score a knockout after Varela got up, but when he saw that he wasn’t going anywhere, Julio slowed down his pace and went back to loading up with an occasional big shot.
Varela controlled the action in the 4th round as Julio seemed to be taking the round off. Varela mostly came forward throwing his slow jab which found a home in the face of Julio, who like usual, was using little head movement and blocking almost zero punches with his gloves. By the end of the round, Julio had noticeable swelling underneath his left eye from all the jabs he ate during the round. Julio still continued to land big punches during the round but with a much lesser frequency than in the previous three rounds.
In the 5th round, Julio nailed Varela with a big left hook shortly into the round, dropping Varela as if he were shot by a gun. It was a totally different round from the others, as Julio was throwing much harder punches, causing Varela’s head to snap back on impact. It was incredible, frankly, how much punishment Varela could take because he was getting hit with some howitzer shots, the type that would have dropped a fighter with a lesser chin than him. However, it was clear that the fight wouldn’t go much longer, because Varela couldn’t continue to take such punishment without someone stepping in to stop it – whether that be his corner or the referee.
In the 6th round, Julio continued to batter Varela with tremendous shots, hitting him at will and hurting him with every shot. A short time into the round, Julio nailed him with a big right hand, dropping him to the canvas. Then, near the end of the round, Julio again knocked Varela down with a big right hand. He got up and the round ended almost immediately. In between rounds, Varela’s corner opted to have the fight stopped rather than to let their fighter continue to take needless punishment. The fight was then officially stopped at 3:00 of the 6th round by referee Telis Assimenios.