HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP)-Colombia's Joel Julio had five knockdowns en route to a seventh-round technical knockout victory over Nicaragua's Jose Varela on Wednesday night.
Julio overwhelmed Varela with solid power punching skills in the scheduled 10-round junior-middleweight bout at Hard Rock Live Arena.
Varela's cornermen saw enough damage and instructed referee Telis Assimenios to stop the fight before the seventh round.
Julio dropped Varela with a right to the head early in the second round. Julio (34-1, 31 KOs) pressured Varela with additional inside combinations and floored him again later in the round with a left hook to the head.
Varela could not escape Julio's shots in the third, when he was dropped with an overhand right to the head.
Varela enjoyed his best round in the fourth, keeping Julio at a distance and connecting with lead jabs and rights to the head.
But Julio cut distance again in the fifth and dropped Varela with a left hook to the head. After apparently surviving a knockdown in the sixth, Varela absorbed his final knockdown in the closing seconds of the round, when Julio floored him with a right to the head.
