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19-year-old super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco got the most solid test of his young boxing career tonight, but came out with a clear decision win over Rodolfo Gomez Jr on the Canelo-Yildirim undercard.
Click here for round-by-round updates for the Canelo-Yildirim main card!
Pacheco (11-0, 8 KO) went the eight-round distance for the first time in his career, winning on scores of 79-73 from all three judges. Bad Left Hook also had the fight 79-73 for Pacheco, but that doesn’t mean this was a truly easy fight.
Gomez (14-5-1, 10 KO), a 31-yea-rold Mexican-American who’s never been stopped, stood up well to Pacheco, and also at 6’3”, was the rare opponent who wasn’t giving away a lot of height to the 6’4” youngster at 168 pounds.
Gomez did some solid work in the bout, particularly in the third and fourth rounds, and was able to fairly consistently find a home for a left hook, and looked to counter Pacheco’s jab with a right hand.
And while Pacheco definitely got the better of things, he couldn’t put Gomez away or even get him in real trouble, and that’s very valuable for a young fighter, to run into a guy like Gomez who doesn’t fold easily. All in all, a legitimate fight to learn from for Pacheco, who remains a very good prospect.
Marc Castro TKO-2 John Moraga
Moraga, a former UFC contender, took this on very short notice, and he got taken apart by the 21-year-old Castro (2-0, 2 KO), an amateur star Matchroom have very high hopes for as he starts building as a pro.
Moraga (1-3, 1 KO) went down very early in the opening round on a well-timed jab, and was dropped harder, twice, in the second before the fight was stopped. Moraga gave Top Rank prospect Duke Ragan four full rounds last October, and Ragan’s a good prospect. Castro might be a great prospect at 130.
Marc Castro dropped his opponent SEVEN SECONDS into the fight pic.twitter.com/38dCy8Y8Mi
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 28, 2021
Marc Castro improves to 2-0 pic.twitter.com/jWPIYV4g7E
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 28, 2021