Diego Pacheco faces Maciej Sulecki this Saturday but already has eyes on his next targets
Diego Pacheco believes he is ready to take on the biggest names in the Super-Middleweight division – but knows he has to see off Maciej Sulecki in style first on Saturday night, August 31, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Los Angeles, live worldwide on DAZN.
Pacheco (21-0 17 KOs) is knocking loudly at the door for World title action, sitting at #1 in the WBO and #4 with the WBC and IBF, and defeating Sulecki (32-2 12 KOs) will only bolster his credentials to land a marquee fight.
The 23 year old is fully focused on his toughest test to date, but identified three names that he would like to face next in Christian Mbilli, Edgar Berlanga and Erik Bazinyan – and facing them is the next step in Pacheco’s five-year plan to dominate the Super-Middleweight division.
“A win gets me that step closer,” said Pacheco. “If I can do that, it hopefully gets me a fight with someone that’s in the top ten with me, and then become mandatory for one of the titles and next year, get that World title shot.
“I don’t feel like I have to show anything in particular. People have already seen that I can knock people out, that I can hurt people to the body, I can drop guys with uppercuts, hurt them with jabs. It’s more just getting the win and looking good, that’s what I train for, there’s no added pressure.
“There’s Mbilli, Berlanga, Bazinyan; there’s a lot of good fighters out there that I would face and I’m ready for any of them. It’s hard for those guys to fight me because they think I’m just a young kid who hasn’t done much in the sport.
“But one fight at a time it’s getting to the point where they can’t deny me anymore and those fights will have to be made, and I have a promoter in Eddie Hearn and Matchroom who gets those fights lined up, so in due time I’ll be mixing it up with them all.
“I think in five years from now I’ll be ruling the 168lb division, unifying it and ultimately becoming undisputed, that’s my goal. I want to dominate, keep the momentum going, keep knocking guys out and keep entertaining the fans.”
Pacheco’s clash with Sulecki tops a stacked card in Los Angeles, where Super-Featherweight KO artist Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez (27-1 27 KOs) faces former World title challenger Miguel Marriaga (31-7 26 KOs).
There’s an all-Mexican war as Arturo Cardenas (14-0-1 8 KOs) defends his Continental Americas Super-Bantamweight title against Jesus Arechiga (21-1 15 KOs), Britain’s Chev ‘C4’ Clarke (9-0 7 KOs) makes his American debut against Efetobor Apochi (12-2 12 KOs) and the action on DAZN begins with an interim World title clash, as Adelaida Ruiz (16-0-1 8 KOs) defends her WBC Super-Flyweight title against Ginny Fuchs (3-0 1 KOs).
Recent Matchroom signing Fabian ‘Zurdo’ Rojo (9-0 7 KOs) meets Alejandro Frias (15-10-2 7 KOs) over six rounds at Welterweight, Criztec Bazaldua (5-0 1 KOs) faces Kyle Erwin (7-2 3 KOs) over six rounds at Super-Lightweight, and Alex Gueche (5-0 5 KOs) kicking off the night over six rounds at Bantamweight against David Vargas (8-4-2 5 KOs).