The sanctioning body has already ordered Christian Mbilli and Sheeraz to fight for the vacant WBC 168-lb belt. Fighting Pacheco for his WBC Silver title will be for a lesser title.
If Riyadh Season doesn’t care about the titles, it won’t matter that Sheeraz isn’t fighting for the vacant belt. This is a winning battle for him.
Last Saturday night, Pacheco battled to defeat Kevin Lele Sadjo via a 12-round unanimous decision in Stockton, California.
Knockdown changed the battle
Diego was dropped by a left hook from Sadjo in the eighth round, and held on to the shorter fighter for most of the remaining rounds to avoid being knocked down again. In the 10th round, Pacheco was disturbed by a hard shot from Sadjo. From there, he redoubled his attempts to hold on whenever his opponent got close.
“If he gets knocked down and gets back up, I’ve been very impressed,” Tim Bradley said of his channeland talking about Diego Pacheco in his win over Kevin Lele Sadjo last Saturday night. “He made a decision to stay close to this man.”
Holding on became the strategy
Let me correct Bradley on this comment about Pacheco deliberately staying close to Sadjo. That is not what happened. The 6’4″ Diego wanted the fight to be on the outside, but the much shorter 5’8″ Sadjo kept walking him down and trying to get in striking distance to throw.
When he would get close, Pacheco would hold. He did that all night, and it was clearly part of his game plan to pin Sadjo down.
“He kept tying himself up because if he dropped his hands and tried to create distance, he was going to get hit in the process,” said Bradley, who put a positive spin on the excessive hitting Pacheco did.
Pacheco grabbed Sadjo before he got a shot. He was reaching out and pulling Sadjo in for a clinch. It was no accident. This was the strategy Diego had, and made the fight dull to watch because there was so much holding in each round. It was like watching an octopus grab a fish and bring it into its mouth.
Sheeraz Fight Talk is heating up
“They’re talking about him and Sheeraz. Let’s do it. I don’t know if Eddie Hearn is going to do it,” Bradley said of the news that Riyadh Season is interested in a fight between Hamzah Sheeraz and Pacheco. “Get that big money while they’re trying to offer it to you, Pacheco. It’s a fight you can win too.”
This is a good fight for Pacheco if he can get it. Speaking after the fight, Hearn said he hopes to get Jaime Munguia as Pacheco’s next opponent. This is a better matchup for Diego than fighting Sheeraz. If the money is significant for a fight against Hamzah, that would be the logical direction for Pacheco to take.
