LAS VEGAS – Diego Pacheco, banking on the natural assets of youth, and Steven Nelson, investing in the wisdom of experience, both made weight Friday ahead of their DAZN main event Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan.
The No. 1-rated WBO super middleweight contender to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Pacheco, 23, weighed in at 166.4lbs and Nelson, 36, came in at the weight limit, 168.0lbs.
“I’m prepared. I hope he’s ready for what’s coming. If he doesn’t know, he’s about to find out,” said South Central Los Angeles’ Pacheco, 22-0 (18 KOs). “Steven Nelson is a good fighter, but he’s never been in there with no fighter like me.”
Pacheco, standing 6in taller and possessing a nearly 4in reach advantage against Nelson, is coming off a dismissal of another veteran by stopping former middleweight title challenger Maciej Sulecki in August in another DAZN main event, outside Los Angeles.
Pacheco is aiming to take the victory to showdowns against the elites of the division, including the WBA’s and WBC’s top-ranked Christian Mbilli, former titleholder Caleb Plant and recent title challenger Edger Berlanga.
Nelson, meanwhile, is counting on his lessons gained at the world-class gym headed by 2023 Trainer of the Year Brian “Bomac” McIntyre and a cast of formidable gym mates headed by four-division champion Terence Crawford.
Another of those gym mates paused in front of Nelson after the fighters got chippy in their face-off, urging Nelson to “take that MF’er to school.”
Nelson assured on stage that “there’s been no stone unturned” in training. “He can’t prepare for what I’m bringing. It’s going to be an amazing night.”
Nelson said he isn’t convinced Pacheco fully knows how to implement the tools of his height and reach advantages.
“I’m prepared for everything. I’m stronger, I’m ready,” Nelson said.
During the face-off, Nelson said Pacheco told the veteran that he was “easy work” and “scared.”
“No living being can put fear in my heart,” Nelson said. “He’s going to get in there and find out.”
The key to being a veteran fighter, Nelson said, is patience.
“Everything I’ve been through in life has brought me here to show everybody what it means to be wise, [that] I’ve learned things in life you just can’t know at 23. It comes with life.”
McIntyre said he believes Nelson, as a +245 betting underdog, can spring the upset.
“Experience is boxing IQ, and he has that,” McIntyre said. “All the times he’s been in the ring with great sparring partners … the team has him ready.”
In the co-main event, unbeaten two-time Olympic champion Andy Cruz, 4-0 (2 KOs), weighed 134.8lbs, as did opponent Omar Salcido, 20-1 (14 KOs), a +800 underdog.
In another young-tiger-versus-old-lion match, Ernesto “Tito” Mercado, 16-0 (15 KOs), of Pomona, California, weighed 142 to former two-division champion Jose Pedraza, 29-6-1 (14 KOs), coming in at 143.
In the DAZN opener, Leonardo Rubalcava, 9-0 (3 KOs), and Mercado’s brother, Israel, 11-1-1 (7 KOs), both weighed 141.
India’s recent Olympics quarterfinalist Nishant Dev (155.8lbs) will make his pro debut against 1-0 Alton Wiggins (156.4lbs).
Brooklyn lightweight Harley Mederos, 7-0 (6 KOs), weighed in at 134.4lbs while opponent Arturo de Isla, 5-2-1 (4 KOs), checked in at 135.6lbs; and in the opener, 1-0 Zaquin Moses weighed 130.4lbs for his fight against 3-0 (3 KOs) Mario Garcia (137.4lbs).
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
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