Diego Pacheco made sure to remember the most important part of fight week in his hometown this time around.
“Yeah, I definitely had to discipline myself to screen calls, not answer every call,” Pacheco told The Ring, with a chuckle. “I appreciate all the love and support. But this is the time when you just have to lock in, and stay focused.”
The unbeaten 23-year-old from Los Angeles’s South Central region is set for his second local headliner in nine months. Pacheco (21-0, 17 knockouts) faces Poland’s Maciej Sulecki in a scheduled 12-round super middleweight bout. DAZN will air their main event this Saturday from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The opportunity is two fights removed from Pacheco’s previous affair in front of his adoring fans, also versus a former title challenger. A ninth-round stoppage over Argentina’s Marcelo Coceres came with its interesting moments in the ring, and distractions leading up to fight night.
“It’s been a learning experience through the years,” admitted Pacheco. “But it’s all love and I cherish these opportunities.”
Every opportunity is important when you’re the fighter groomed as the division’s second coming.
The fight versus Sulecki (32-2, 12 KOs) is the latest step towards fighting for his first major title.
Pacheco is currently ranked as The Ring’s No. 4 super middleweight. From an alphabet belt standpoint, he is the WBO’s No. 1 contender and No. 4 with both the WBC and IBF.
The roads to those titles lead in two directions for the moment. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) holds The RING championship and WBC, WBA and WBO belts. William Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) and Vladimir Shishkin (18-0, 12 KOs) are due to meet for the vacant IBF title this fall.
Alvarez was the undisputed champ before he relinquished the IBF belt in refusal to face Scull as his mandatory challenger. Well before that, there has been a backlog of challengers awaiting their shot at the sport’s cash cow.
Among them was David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), Pacheco’s longtime training stablemate and a former two-time WBC titlist. Benavidez clearly established himself as the division’s true No. 1 contender but came up empty in his dogged pursuit of Alvarez. The unbeaten boxer now campaigns at light heavyweight, where he awaits a shot at the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol winner.
Pacheco already has a difficult time landing all the names he wants to face on the way up the ranks. He is aware of a potential similar fate as Benavidez if Alvarez still rules the land once he’s in position to vie for the top spot.
That is what makes moments like this so important. Rather than worry about what someone else won’t do, the focus is on what he can achieve. Building your local fan base and becoming the class of your weight division are key—and attainable—goals.
“Some things are just out of your control,” acknowledged Pacheco. “I can’t worry about that day coming for me. All I can do is just hope I’ve done everything in my power to make sure it happens for me when my day comes. If not, then I will just focus on who it will be against. Not who I won’t face.”
For now, the primary objective is to give his adoring local fans reason to cheer.
This time around, the right fighter is in front of him. It wasn’t the case in his first appearance of 2024—a ten-round win over Shawn McCalman (15-1, 10 KOs). Their April 6 DAZN headliner between unbeaten boxers saw one come to win and the other content to go rounds.
“Sulecki is the perfect style for me,” insisted Pacheco. “He’s gonna be running into a lot of shots.
“He’s gonna come to fight, come to win. Unfortunately for him, he’s gonna run into Diego Pacheco.”
Sulecki’s only two defeats have come at the top level and in his opponent’s hometown. He dropped a competitive and entertaining twelve-round decision to Daniel Jacobs in their April 2018 WBA title eliminator. His lone title bid was considerably less competitive as he was shut out by then-unbeaten WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade 14 months later in Providence, Rhode Island.
Four wins have since followed for the 35-year-old contender who once again hits the road.
Saturday will mark Pacheco’s fifth career fight in the greater L.A. region. It’s his second at the venue famously dubbed as ‘The War Grounds’ in boxing circles.
Fittingly, his previous appearance came on the undercard of a fighter who is very much a future target—Jaime Munguia.
Such a matchup in 2025 could be one to usher in a new era in the super middleweight division. Both would have to win their next fights. Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) faces Erik Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs) on Sept. 20 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
By then, Pacheco hopes to have not only won by then but establish himself as a big draw in a hot market.
“I fought at the War Grounds on a Munguia undercard (Sept. 2019) when I was 18 years old,” recalled Pacheco. “I opened up the main DAZN card. It was a good feeling. I fought at home, fighting on DAZN and got a third-round TKO.
“Now to go back, headline and put young fighters from my city on the undercard is amazing. I just can’t wait to put on a show and give the people a performance they remember.”
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The post Diego Pacheco: Sulecki Is The Perfect Style For Me, He’s Gonna Be Running Into A Lot Of Shots appeared first on The Ring.
