Pacheco Stops Sulecki in Six, Inches His Way Towards Stardom

Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) has been hyped as a next big thing in boxing ever since he made his professional debut in 2018, at the age of 17. Looking at his performance Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, it’s hard to dispute that.

The long and lanky 23-year-old Pacheco had his way with tough Polish veteran Maciej Sulecki (32-3, 12 KOs), using his 11-inch reach advantage to pick at the 35-year-old from a safe distance while occasionally connecting with a vicious right hand.

Sulecki, whose only previous defeats came against Daniel Jacobs in 2018 and Demetrius Andrade in 2019, was never really in the fight, although he did make a few spirited attempts at upsetting what appeared to be an inevitable and decisive drubbing.

After a fifth round where Pacheco landed his heaviest shots and buzzed the former world title challenger, the young fighter closed the show in the sixth with a ferocious liver punch that made the tough Pole crumple into a fetal position, writhing in pain for the full 10 count. It was the first time Sulecki had been stopped in his 14-year pro career.

“I could tell after the third and fourth round, he was slowing down,” Pacheco said in his post-fight interview. “Sulecki is a hell of a fighter. He came to fight, he came to win.

“But he never ran into anything like this before. It’s the DP show.”

With the win, Pacheco maintains his no. 1 contender spot in the WBO’s super middleweight rankings– a position that should, eventually, lead to a shot at unified 168 lb. champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

When presented with the idea of possibly facing the Mexican superstar, Pacheco did not offer any hesitation.

“I don’t back down from any challenge,” Pacheco replied. “Let’s get it on.”

According to his promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, however, the idea is to get Pacheco some more seasoning and at least one more additional fight before pushing for his shot at Alvarez. In a pre-fight interview, Hearn brought up the possibility of a clash with Mexican battler Jaime Munguia, who impressed this past May with his spirited effort in what would turn out to be a unanimous decision loss to Alvarez.

Whatever the case, Pacheco showed his forward career progress Saturday night against the most accomplished opponent on his resume thus far. What promised to be a test, turned out to be a rout and, in many eyes, proof positive that the Jose Benavidez Sr.-trained young prospect is absolutely “for real.”