Darshan Desai reports and Dan Rafael corroborates that super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco will face Darius Fulghum atop Matchroom’s November 14th “The Fight” show on TNT and DAZN.
Pacheco (26-0, 19 KO) snapped a three-fight finish drought this past July by clobbering Immanuwel Aleem to cap off a shutout in Carson. Despite turning down multiple title opportunities, he remains highly ranked, most notably sitting at no. 2 in the WBO rankings behind the recently elevated Janibek Alimkhanuly. With former titlist Hamzah Sheeraz punking out of a mandatory defense against Alimkhanuly over the weekend, Pacheco could have put his name forward to fight Alimkhanuly for the now-vacant belt.
Instead, he meets Fulghum (15-1-1, 13 KO) in another bold step sideways. “DFG” lost a tight decision to Bektemir Melikuziev on the strength of a last-round knockdown in last year’s WBA eliminator and subsequently drew with David Stevens in what was by all accounts an atrocious hugfest, but rehabbed in May by starching Cuban victim Yanki Urruita.
I just don’t understand what Pacheco’s plan is. He’s turned down Sheeraz, Christian Mbilli, and now Alimkhanuly in favor a matchup that does nothing for either his career or his technical development. He’s no. 3 with the WBC behind Canelo and Jacob Bank, the latter of whom will likely step up to the plate against Alimkhanuly, so maybe he’s following in Sheeraz’s footsteps and holding out for the bag in case Canelo beats Mbilli next month and the WBC predictably kicks interim champ Lester Martinez to the curb instead of giving him first crack.
