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19-year-old super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco will be back in action this Friday night, featured on the undercard of DAZN’s world title tripleheader from Mexico City.
Pacheco (9-0, 7 KO) should be a familiar face to you by now if you’re a regular viewer of Matchroom Boxing’s prelim fights. The 6’4” teenager turned pro in Dec. 2018 in Mexico, had his first two fights in that country, and then was part of the Rungvisai-Estrada 2 card from California in Apr. 2019.
Since then, he’s been seen on the Joshua-Ruiz, Estrada-Beamon, Munguia-Allotey, KSI-Logan Paul, Ruiz-Joshua 2, and Garcia-Vargas cards. I haven’t done the numbers (I should, maybe), but he might have more DAZN fights than anyone to date. At the very least, he’s in the running for the top spot.
Friday, he’s back on another Juan Francisco Estrada-led card, facing Juan Antonio Mendez (12-2-2, 10 KO), a 33-year-old Mexican southpaw whose career started in 2010 but included a break from 2013-16, and just one fight since 2017. This is not really a step up for Pacheco at all, but he’s itching to do just that.
“I feel like I am ready,” he said. “People would tell me that they thought I was being rushed because I was fighting every month, I was 9-0 in my first year, but they were doing that for a reason, they could see that I was ready for these fights.”
How to Watch Estrada vs Cuadras 2
Date: Friday, Oct. 23 | Start Time: 7:00 pm ET
Location: Gimnasio TV Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico
TV: Azteca (Mexico) | Stream: DAZN
His dimensions — 6’4”, 79-inch reach — could make him a handful at 168 and further up the weight divisions, but he says it’s not just about that as far as his potential goes.
“I’m a lot taller than most of the fighters in my division, which makes me longer than them and I can control the distance,” he said. “But when I do get in there with people that are my height and have my reach, I think my boxing skill just higher than my opponents and rivals in the division.”
Pacheco is one of a trio of notable prospects in action on Friday’s bill, along with middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams (5-0, 4 KO) and lightweight Otha Jones III (5-0, 2 KO), plus the three world title fights, which we previewed here.