Gutierrez Controls Varela

Sharp shooting Colombian junior middleweight Richard "La Lamina" Gutierrez (24-1, 14 KO's) repeatedly ripped Jose "Temible" Varela (23-3, 16 KO's) with sharp left hooks and whistling counter right hands on the button to pound out a decisive ten round unanimous decision.

The stablemate of the undefeated welterweight king Miguel Cotto, the 30-year-old Varela out of Chinandega, Nicaragua really had no answer for his opponent's accuracy, or Gutierrez's well-timed shots that continued to richochtted off of his skull for most of the evening.

Judge John Rupert scored the contest 99-91, while both Michael Pernick and Peter Trematerra had Gutierrez winning comfortably on their scorecards 98-92.

Varela (153 ¾) did drop Gutierrez (153 ¾) in the 3rd, however, that was from a brutal right uppercut south of the border. The hard punching Colombian, who now lives and fights out of Miami recovered from the low blow and despite the fact no points were taken away from the Nicaraguan, Gutierrez, 29, never backed off the target and he returned to getting inside and landing hard shots in close quarters.

Gutierrez, 5'10 ½", was able to recover from the foul and drill the taller man Varela, 6'1", virtually in every round with stiff ramrod left jabs, then slip punches and connect with stinging right crosses and more accurate artillery. In the 5th, Gutierrez jolted Varela with a clean left hook flush on the jaw. Varela rallied somewhat in the 7th and the 8th, by letting his hands go and finally picking up the pace. Nevertheless, Gutierrez's jab and then even more jabs repeatedly penetrated the taller man's defense and continued to snap Varela's skull and his mod Prince Valiant hairstyle straight back until the final bell to win the fight going away. Gutierrez had fallen out of favor following a lukewarm performance against light-hitting Luciano Perez last June, when he scored a lackluster ten round majority decision victory. However, judging from his performance against the rangy Mod from Nicaragua, well, perhaps it is time again for Mr. Gutierrez to step up in class and again make his presence felt in the 154-pound division.