By Cliff Rold

29-year old Colombian Welterweight Richard Gutierrez (24-1, 14 KO) made it three wins in a row since suffering a narrow loss to consensus top-ten contender Joshua Clottey in the summer of 2006.  It wasn’t easy as Nicaraugua’s Jose Varela (23-3, 16 KO) made him work for it from bell to bell in a grueling ten round affair on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.  The bout was telecast live from Xtreme Indoor Karting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  No wet t-shirt contests were televised.

Gutierrez, who was at least two inches shorter than Varela, got off to a good early start by staying low, getting inside behind the left jab, and tossing the right at his taller foe.  He built up a lead through the first half of the bout but Varela was landing shots of his own behind his own lanky jab. 

The second half of the bout increased the competitive spirit in both men as Varela began creating more room and landing effective shots as Gutierrez came forward.  Through eight rounds, it appeared that Varela had a chance to close the gap on the cards.

Gutierrez had other ideas.  With swelling cropping up around both eyes, Gutierrez increased his punch output and gutted through the final two frames, outworking his foe to stamp a firm unanimous decision. 

Gutierrez can now hope that his performance was enough to improve on his #10 rating from the IBF.  That sanctioning body belt is held by Kermit Cintron.

In the lead co-feature, 26-year old 2004 Olympic Flyweight Gold Medalist and Cuban defector Yuriorkis Gamboa (9-0, 8 KO) took full advantage of his first major U.S. television appearance, looking every bit the part of the future champion he’s been hailed to be.  In a devastating performance, Gamboa jumped on Johnnie Edwards (13-2-1, 7 KO) of Florence, South Carolina early with sharp jabs and devastating straight right hands.  Edwards would hit the deck twice inside the bouts 94 seconds, but the difference in fighter quality had been determined at least 93 seconds earlier than that.  Gamboa is one to watch at both Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight.

Another Cuban Gold Medalist who defected with Gamboa was also in action on the night.  27-year old Bantamweight Yan Barthelemy (5-0) will be hard pressed to create the excitement his countryman does, but he looks every bit the sound long-term investment.  A pure southpaw boxer, Barthelemy exhibited excellent use of the right jab, sound defense and slick footwork in his bout with the outclassed Antonio Diaz (9-9, 6 KO) of Colombia.  Barthelemy also showed a touch of professional inexperience. 

In the fifth, Barthelemy shot a straight left that caught Diaz high on the head and dropped him to one knee along the ropes.  The Cuban, sensing an opportunity at his first professional stoppage win, jumped on his foe, leaving himself open to blind hooks in the corner.  He wasn’t hurt, but the lessons were there.  Moments later, his anxiousness led him to clip Diaz behind the head for a point deduction.  That brought a more immediate lesson that calmed Barthelemy heading to the sixth and final round.  Clowning a bit for the crowd, Barthelemy showed off some fancy head movement, and ate a few more shots than his skill should have allowed, while finishing out a clear unanimous decision victory. 

Cliff’s Note: In the studio portion of the telecast, Teddy Atlas picked Sultan Ibragimov to defeat Wladimir Klitschko tomorrow night.  Teddy picks ‘em pretty well; maybe the rest of us are missing something.
 
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com