By Francisco Salazar

Junior bantamweight contender Aston Palicte broke down Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, eventually stopping him in the fifth round Friday night at the Sports Center in Round Rock, Texas.

The victory was Palicte's fourth victory in a row.

Palicte (24-2, 20 knockouts) utilized his significant reach and four-inch height advantage to rain punches down onto Rodriguez, a former interim world titleholder at 108 pounds.

Rodriguez (32-7, 19 KOs), who resides in the boxing hotbed of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, came to fight and did find some success getting on the inside of Palicte's guard. That was few and far between as Palicte's consistent right hands to the head began to take a toll on Rodriguez.

Palicte hurt Rodriguez with a right hand about 30 seconds into round five. A barrage of punches would drop Rodriguez near a corner against the ropes, where he remained as referee Mark Calo-oy counted him out at 45 seconds.

Rodriguez has not lost his last three fights.

Originally from Bago City, in the Philippines, Palicte trains out of the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California. He is currently ranked amongst the top 10 in three major sanctioning bodies, with the WBO ranking him number three.

"Rodriguez is an excellent fighter," said Palicte, who is trained by Rodel Mayol. "It was my timing that worked. I'll be ready to fight anyone who wants to fight me. I'll leave that to my promoter (Roy Jones, Jr.) and my manager."

In a clash of unbeaten light heavyweights, Ali Akhmedov won a one-sided four-filled 10 round decision over DeShon Webster.

Akhmedov (10-0, 8 KOs) was in control throughout the fight, where he utilized his strength and accuracy to give Webster problems. Webster was deducted a point in rounds three and four by referee Gregorio Alvarez, each time for excessive holding.

The action opened up during the final three rounds of the fight. Webster (9-1, 6 KOs) attempted to muster some offense, but Akhmedov's offense would snuff it out. Akhmedov went for the kill during the final two rounds, but was unable to drop Webster.

Scores were 100-88, 100-88, and 99-89 for Akhmedov, who is originally from Kazakhstan and now resides in Las Vegas.

In the opening bout of the beIN Sports telecast, featherweight Antonio Castillo won a four round split decision over Manuel Mondragon (2-1, 1 KO). One judge scored the bout 39-37 for Mondragon, while the other two judges scored the bout 39-37 in favor of Castillo, who improves to 3-2.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV.com, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing