Oh, the Love Child.

It was the unkindest of ring returns for Joel ‘Love Child’ Julio, who was cleanly outboxed by unbeaten Haro Matevosyan over ten rounds Friday evening at Havelstudios in Berlin, Germany. Judges Rene Fiebig (99-92),  Marco Morales (100-90) and Andreas Schweiger (98-92) all scored the contest in favor of Matevosyan, an Armenian southpaw based out of Berlin.

The regional title fight marked the first piece of ring action for Julio since a surprise comeback in November 2018. The former junior middleweight hadn’t fought in four years prior to scoring a 3rd round knockout of Segundo Herrera in his native Colombia to extend his win streak to four straight dating back to August 2010.

That came to an end in front of a modest-sized crowd in Berlin.

Both boxers sought to establish their jab in the opening round, with the bout never evolving far beyond that pace. Julio mixed in straight right hands but was often left to be countered with clean combinations from Matevosyan.

Julio continued to attempt to press the action though it only played into Matevosyan’s strategy. The 35-year old from Miami by way of Monteria, Colombia constantly led with his jab, falling short with right hands behind it. Matevosyan remained in the pocket, countering with straight left hands and snapping back his opponent’s head.

Matevosyan enjoyed continued success in the second half of the fight, scoring with lead straight lefts. Julio offered more lateral movement as the bout progressed, though not at all resulting in a momentum shift as Matevosyan remained poised in sticking with his pre-fight game plan.

Julio came out with a far more aggressive approach in the 10th and final round, undoubtedly sensing he needed to land something dramatic to emerge victorious. That moment never occurred, as Matevosyan was able to move Julio around the ring solely on the strength of his jab. A right hand late in the round caught Julio, snapping back his head in the final telling blow of the contest.

The win is the first of 2020 for Matevosyan, who advances to 11-0 (6KOs). It marked his second fight of the year, though only lasting 2:25 as his bout with Said Rahimi saw both fighters suffer a cut from a clash of heads in forcing the early ending.

Julio falls to 39-5 (33KOs) with the loss, his first since an 11th round stoppage to Alfredo Angulo in their interim junior middleweight title fight more in April 2010.

The bout served in supporting capacity to a junior middleweight title eliminator between Jack Culcay (28-4, 13KOs) and Abass Baraou (9-0, 6KOs) to determine the number-two contender in the IBF 154-pound rankings.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox