Unbeaten super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) scored a beautiful left-hook sixth-round body shot knockout of veteran Maciej Sulecki (32-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday night in their headliner at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson, California. The fight was halted at 54 seconds of the sixth round.
“He ain’t run into anyone like me before,” said Pacheco after the fight. “Early in the rounds, it was hard for me to go to the body. When I did, he didn’t expect it. I didn’t even land it that hard, so I was surprised. He was a strong fighter, a good fighter, and coming forward. I’m a great fighter.
“I could tell he was feeling my punches. I told you guys I was going to deliver that knockout, and here it is. I hope you enjoyed it. Anyone in the top 10. Whoever Eddie lines up, I’ll be ready. Definitely, I don’t back down from any fighter,” said Pacheco when asked if he feels ready to fight Canelo Alvarez next.
“He is going to be the mandatory for the winner of Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga. I would like to have Pacheco fight Jaime Munguia,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “When the mandatory gets called, we’re taking it. In Los Angeles, Jaime Munguia against Pacheco is a massive fight. He’s going to be called as the mandatory, and that’s Canelo Alvarez. We got to be ready when that comes.”
Undercard results
In the chief support fight, super featherweight contender Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez (28-1 28 KOs) stopped former world title challenger Miguel Marriaga (31-8 26 KOs) by a sixth-round stoppage in a war. ‘Sugar’ Nunez dropped the 37-year-old Marriaga twice in the fight, once in the fourth and a final time in the sixth.
In the final seconds of the sixth, Nunez sent Marriaga to the canvas with a liver shot. Marriaga went down on a delayed reaction. However, Marriaga got back up and made it through the last few seconds. After the round ended, the referee halted the fight.
The Colombian Marriaga was landing many hard shots to the head and body of the 27-year-old Nunez throughout the contest, surprisingly showing better power than him. If not for Nunez’s excellent chin, he might have been knocked out because he was repeatedly getting nailed cleanly by Marriaga because he focused on his offense and was wreckless on defense.
Super bantamweight Arturo Cardenas (15-0-1 8 KOs) defeated Jesus Arechiga (21-2 15 KOs) by a questionable ten-round split decision to retain his Continental Americas title. The scores were 96-94 for Arechiga, 98-92, and 96-94 for Cardenas.
The wide 8-2 score for Cardenas didn’t make much sense because it was a very close fight. Arechiga gave Cardenas a lot of problems with his body shots and got the better of the action in the second half of the battle.
Cruiserweight Chev Clarke (10-0, 7 KOs) won a tougher-than-expected ten-round majority decision over Efetobor Apochi (12-3, 12 KOs). The scores were 95-95, 98-92, and 97-93. This writer had it 95-95 even.
Clarke fought well in the first couple of rounds but then wilted from the pressure and power of Apochi. In the eighth, Clarke returned to hurt Apochi with a right hand. However, Apochi, 36, recovered well and controlled the last 20 seconds of the round.
In the tenth, Clarke was hurt by Apochi’s right hand and spent much of the last two minutes holding and moving. He looked in bad shape at the end.