Junior lightweight Erick De Leon has been more aggressive in recent fights.

Friday night was no exception as De Leon stopped veteran Aldimar Silva in the third round at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas.

De Leon improves to 14-0, eight knockouts, while Silva falls to 19-11, 12 KOs.

De Leon has now stopped four of his last five opponents.

From the opening bell, De Leon was the aggressor, stalking the Brazilian fighter around the ring. De Leon dropped Silva midway through the second round, landing a left hook to the top of Silva’s head. The punch seemed to have a lingering effect on Silva as he was dropped a second time near the end of the round.

Sensing he was hurt, De Leon went in for the kill to start the third round. De Leon battered Silva, prompting Silva’s corner to throw in the towel to save their fighter. Time of the stoppage was 1:00.

De Leon was an amateur standout who was trained by the late Emanuel Steward.

In the opening bout of the ‘Solo Boxeo’ broadcast, middleweight Esquiva Falcao won by technical knockout when late-sub Josue Obando did not answer the seventh round.

Falcao improves to 15-0, 12 KOs, while Obando drops to 14-12-1, 11 KOs.

The southpaw Falcao pressed the fight from the opening round, forcing the taller-Obando to have to fight off his back foot.

Things got worse for Obando in the third round when he was cut over his left eye by a punch. The blood world seep into his eye, complicating matters as Falcao continued to land repeatedly to the head.

Obando found a home for an occasional uppercut, but he was unable to match the punch output from Falcao. With the cut not getting any better and having lost every round, Obando remained on his stool prior to the start of the seventh round.

Welterweight Arturo Marquez, the son of former world junior middleweight titleholder Raul Marquez, won a one-sided decision over Stephen Bass. Scorecards were 39-37, 39-37, and 40-36 for the 19-year-old Marquez, who improves to 5-0, 3 KOs.

Former amateur standout and junior lightweight Jesse Garcia (5-0, 4 KOs) remained unbeaten with a one-sided four round decision over Gabriel Gutierrez. All three judges scored the bout 40-35 in favor of Garcia, who dropped Gutierrez in round four.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing