José Luís Varela Bustamente (born September 27, 1978) is a Venezuelan

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who has challenged four times for a world

mini flyweight Mini flyweight, also known as paperweight, minimumweight, strawweight, or super atomweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, boxers in the minimumweight division may weigh no more than . This is a relatively new ...

championship; the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

title in 2006, and both the WBA and IBF (twice) titles in 2008.

Amateur career

Varela represented Venezuela at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He was defeated in the round of 32 by Cuba's eventual bronze medalist Maikro Romero.Jose Luis Varela at Sports Reference
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Professional career

Varela won his first professional title, the WBA Fedebol

title, on September 24, 2004, with a unanimous decision victory over Miguel Tellez. He has unsuccessfully challenged for a mini flyweight world title four times in his career. He firstly was defeated by Iván Calderón on October 21, 2006, via unanimous decision in a bout for Calderón's

mini flyweight title. He then lost to WBA champion

Yutaka Niida is a retired professional boxer in the minimumweight (105 lb) division and former WBA world minimumweight champion. Professional boxing career Niida belonged to the Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym, his trainer was Mitsunori Seki and Hidefumi Oika ...

on March 1, 2008, via sixth-round knockout. Valera was then defeated by IBF champion Raúl García on September 13, 2008, via unanimous decision. García defeated Valera in a rematch exactly three months later, again by unanimous decision, to retain the title again.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varela, Jose Luis 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Mérida (state) Light-flyweight boxers Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Venezuela Venezuelan male boxers