Jose Pedraza stops Julian Rodriguez after eight rounds

Jose Pedraza just won’t go away.

The two-time titleholder, now 32, picked apart Julian Rodriguez until the young contender’s cornermen stopped the fight after eight rounds on the Shakur Stevenson-Jeremiah Nakathila card Saturday in Las Vegas.

Pedraza (29-3, 14 KOs) boxed beautifully behind his snapping jab, landing enough power shots to win rounds and keep Rodriguez off balance at the same time.

And the face of Rodriguez (21-1, 14 KOs) became more and more swollen and bruised as the scheduled 10-round 140-pound bout progressed.

Rodriguez fought aggressively at times and had some good moments. However, he could never get a sustained attack going against his clever, experienced opponent.

Finally, after the eighth round, there was no point in allowing the fight to continue and the fight was stopped to prevent Rodriguez from enduring undue punishment.

Pedraza has now beaten Mikkel LesPierre, Javier Molina and Rodriguez since losing a decision to Jose Zepeda in September 2019.