Diego Pacheco overcame a very brief scare to otherwise rack up his latest dominant win.

The 21-year-old from South Central Los Angeles scored knockdowns en route to a fifth round stoppage of Mexicali’s Raul Ortega. Pacheco scored knockdowns in rounds one and two before forcing Ortega to retire on his stool prior to the start of the fifth round their DAZN-televised super middleweight bout Friday evening at Domo Alcalde in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The fight was the second for Pacheco under head trainer Jose Benavidez Sr., joining an all-star stable earlier this year that includes former two-time WBC super middleweight champ and current interim titlist David Benavidez and red-hot lightweight Jose ‘El Rayo’ Valenzuela (12-0, 8KOs). Pacheco is the baby of the bunch but quickly developing into a super middleweight threat, as evidenced in his first scheduled ten-round affair.

Ortega vowed to go to war with the 6’4” prospect, an approach that proved costly early and often. Pacheco floored Ortega with an overhand right midway through the opening round, remaining poised and not wasting any punches in searching for the knockout.

Pacheco overcame his first taste of adversity when he was briefly buzzed midway through round two. Ortega waded through a series of power shots to connect with a right hand upstairs. Pacheco pulled his hands up high while clearing his head, coming back strong to crack Ortega with a wicked right hand to the solar plexus in causing a delayed reaction knockdown.

It was all one-way traffic until the end of the fight. Pacheco applied heavy pressure, cracking Ortega with right hands in round four and punishing the Mexican boxer until the bell. It was decided by the Ortega corner to not allow their charge out for the fifth round.

Pacheco improves to 15-0 (12KOs), picking up his fifth consecutive knockout victory.

Opening the five-fight telecast, Jesus Martinez enjoyed a successful pro debut with a four-round, unanimous decision win over Durango, Mexico’s Daniel Nunez. Scores were 40-35, 40-35 and 40-36 in favor of Martinez (1-0, 0KOs), a 17-year-old from Del, Rio, Texas who is co-managed by former world champs Joe Calzaghe and Darren Barker. Martinez floored Nunez (1-2, 0KOs) in the opening round and applied steady pressure en route to the shutout win.

The evening’s main event is a WBA junior flyweight title consolidation clash between “Super” champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0, 10KOs) and secondary ‘World’ titlist Esteban Bermudez (14-3-2, 10KOs).

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