By Jake Donovan

The ESPN2-televised main event between Rustam Nugaev and Jose Hernandez was bound to come down to who would handle the other's punches better.

That man turned out to be Nugaev, who rarely took a backwards step in scoring a fifth round knockout of Hernandez in their headlining bout Friday evening in Cabazon, California.

Both fighters had their say early on, but it was Nugaev who remained in control for the most part. Hernandez was game every step of the way, but his penchant for diving in face-first proved to be his undoing.

Nugaev's lone scary moments came in rounds two and the start of round three, briefly rocked on both occasions. The Russian slugger showed no fear, though, walking through Hernandez' punches and eventually taking over the fight midway through.

The end came midway through the fifth round, when Nugaev landed a wicked body shot to force Hernandez to a knee. It was the last punch thrown in the fight, as the referee counted out Hernandez at 1:36 of round five.

Nugaev picks up his fourth straight win - including three consecutive knockouts - as he improves to 25-6-1 (15KO).

Hernandez falls to 14-7-1 (6KO), failing to capture the same magic that was to be found in his upset of previously unbeaten Tony Luis earlier this year.

UNDERCARD

Jose Pedraza kept his unbeaten record intact with a 10-round points win over Gabriel Tolmajyan in their televised co-feature.

Scores were 97-93 across the board for Pedraza, who jumped out to an early lead and fended off a late rally from noted spoiler Tolmajyan.

Pedraza advances to 14-0 (9KO), picking up his most significant win to date. Tolmajyan - who has scored upset wins against two of his previously three unbeaten opponents - falls to 14-3-1 (3KO).

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of krikya360.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox