Matchroom might have their first U.S. based star as undefeated super middleweight Diego Pacheco outclassed and stopped beloved European tough guy “Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver” Jack Cullen (21-4-1, 9 KOs) in round four of their scheduled ten-round main event, on Saturday night at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, with the end coming 47 seconds in the fourth round. Pacheco dropped Cullen with a body shot in round four, and finished him off with an onslaught of punches mere seconds afterward.
In the lead up to this bout, Pacheco proclaimed that he would be seen as a contender after this bout, and it is hard not see him as one of the best fighters in the division, as he is becoming one of the top fighters not amongst the big-five of the super middleweight division, which are in no order, Canelo, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, David Morrell and Demetrius Andrade. Outside of those fighters, Pacheco has a credible a resume as most in the division, and based on the eye test is trending in the right direction.
“[Jack Cullen] was tough, the first few rounds he had a really good guard, and it was tough to be get my punches in, but I know eventually I would start them down start to open up the guard,” said Pacheco afterward holding two titles at the press conference posted on Matchroom Boxing’s official YouTube page. “I'm past the prospect phase now, I think I am a top contender, I think I can contend with anyone in the division, and yeah, I think the whole world saw that tonight…”
The co-feature saw a shocker as unheralded super lightweight Darragh Foley stopped Robbie Davies Jr via a third round technical knockout. Foley knocked down Davies Jr in round 2, and again in the third round for good measure. Davies injured his ankle in after the second knockdown, which was from a jab, which saw his corner throw the towel in 26 seconds in the third round.
Other notables on the undercard saw heavyweight Johnny “The Romford Bull” Fisher stop Alfonso Damiani in four rounds, Olympian and super bantamweight prospect Peter McGrail won each and every moment against Nahuel Botelli en route to a ten-round unanimous decision, super lightweight Campbell Hatton, the son of Ricky Hatton won a six-round decision Michel Gonxhe, and women’s lightweight Rhiannon Dixon stopped Vicky Wilkinson in the tenth round.
“Establish the jab is the most important thing [Fisher’s trainer, Mark Tibbs said to him], and I do think if I watch [this fight back] I will be happy with how [my jab] went,” said Fisher afterward in a media scrum presented on Matchroom Boxing’s official YouTube page. “It is about being relaxed in there, because you know you got to go eight rounds, steam people through all the time, because if you do that you might get to round five, round six, and think, ‘hang on, I’ve blown a gasket….but going three or four rounds, because there is little things you can takeaway in a longer narrative format."
