Few tropes are more enjoyable to a reasonable fight fan that the talented prospect who no longer wants to be called be called a prospect, but a contender. It is the transition not unlike that of a high-school student turning into a college student, entering the workforce and demanding the label of an adult as they feel they have fulfilled the quota need to exist in that realm of adulthood. It is easily relatable, and brings us, the viewer, closer to relate to the sport we watch for entertainment as it mirrors journey of our own life, and also, the path of others we observe.
The newest member of this club is super middleweight Diego Pacheco, who now trains with Jose Benavidez Sr., and has been signed with Matchroom Boxing since the start of his career. . A former #1 rated amateur both in the U.S. and in Mexico, Pacheco has met expectations of a great prospect at every step of the way for Matchroom and now looks to be their first potential U.S. breakout star of the company for their initial wave of prospect signings, that came some time ago that seemingly started on October 5th, 2018. Pacheco will headline in Liverpool at the M&S Bank Arena this Saturday, March 11th, with the card being shown, on DAZN, as he faces a local favorite, and a Callum Smith sparring partner in Jack Cullen, which on paper looks to be Pacheco’s tough test of his career. The fight was promoted from being the co-feature after Callum Smith who was originally set to fight on this card had to withdraw with an injury.
Pacheco has had the plight of the typical greatl prospect. Carefully matched early in his career given his young age, Pacheco despite nearing being a five-year professional is still only 21 years old, as he is about to turn 22 this year. His step-up opponents have come over the past year or so, stopping an undefeated Lucas de Abreu, who is signed to Star Boxing, defeating the spoiler Genc Pllana, who holds a win over Kevin Newman II, and getting a win over the tricky Puerto Rican fighter, Enrique Collazo on the forgettable Canelo vs. Golovkin III undercard. Pacheco has fought the best guys below the fringe top-20 caliber opponents, and his opponent on Saturday represents that graduation into the next their of the sport.
“Jack Cullen I feel is a good opponent, finally someone that the fans know I guess,” said Pacheco via a press release produced by Matchroom Boxing about his upcoming fight. “If I beat him then it’s going to be like, ‘he beat this guy’, and I hope people are going to start believing in me a little bit more.”
Pacheco firmly believes that this is his era, and training besides David Benavidez ahead of Benavidez’s first career-defining fight with rival Caleb Plant on pay-per-view, Pacheco wants to make history in his own right. Forge the path he believes he was destined to walk, as he has moved out of East L.A., and now is living in Washington - for one reason and one reason alone - greatness.
“ I’ve been part of David Benavidez’ last five fights. Every camp here is really tough. It’s good work, it doesn’t get better than this. The first time I ever came down here, David reached out to me on the DMs.It was after my Saudi Arabia fight. He was like, ‘oh I was watching that, you’re really good, do you wanna come down and work with me?’. I was like ‘hell yeah’,” stated Pacheco. “I think this fight is really important for my career. It’s really important that I put on a good performance. I wanna knock him out, I wanna stop him. In whatever round it comes in, whether it’s a body shot or a head shot, I just wanna to stop him.”