Kelly Pavlik retained his WBC and WBO middleweight titles with a fifth-round stoppage of Miguel Espino.

Pavlik, whose record is now 36 wins and one defeat from 37 fights, with 32 knockouts, forced Espino's corner to throw in the towel.

Pavlik put Espino down with an uppercut for a count of nine in round four and repeated the treatment later in the round.

Espino (20-3-1, 9 KOs) suffered another knockdown at the start of the fifth and though he beat the count for a third time, his corner opted to prevent him taking any further punishment after one minute and 45 seconds of the round.