CARSON, Calif. – Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn has claimed several winning tickets to the Canelo Alvarez lottery in recent years, and he believes he’s holding another in Diego Pacheco.
The 23-year-old Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) is an undefeated super middleweight contender who is getting closer to a breakthrough with each passing contest. On Saturday, Pacheco bludgeoned Maciej Sulecki with a one-punch body shot knockout.
With Alvarez cleaning out the 168-pound weight class in recent years, outside of Christian Mbilli, the upper echelon of fighters he could face is few and far between.
Enter Pacheco into the evolving equation.
“If you start looking at the options that are available to Canelo, you have a young Mexican-American fighter like Pacheco who is going to be a big name,” Hearn told BoxingScene and other media.
“Realistically, that fight will probably present itself in September 2025. I think two more wins and Diego against Canelo will be a massive fight when the time comes if he performs as he did against Sulecki. I don’t think it’s ever right to call Canelo out. He is the lottery ticket for everybody. When the call comes, we are taking it because it is going to change Diego’s life forever. When we get the shot, we are coming to win, and not for a payday. Timing is everything. A young fighter like Diego in his prime within a year – maybe he is the one.”
Hearn would like to land Pacheco two more bridge fights to get his charge ready for a lucrative chance whenever it presents itself. For Pacheco to turn into a credible contender worthy of a fight against Alvarez, Hearn imagines him facing the likes of Mbilli, Jaime Munguia, Caleb Plant, Erik Bazinyan and upcoming Alvarez opponent Edgar Berlanga.
To begin building intrigue around a potential fight one day, Pacheco plans on being ringside for the Alvarez-Berlanga fight on Sept. 14.
But Hearn may have the ultimate ace up his sleeve courtesy of sanctioning body semantics.
“The WBO has sent me an email saying that Diego Pacheco has been mandated to fight for the world title,” said Hearn. “We got to be ready. I think the WBO will call for the mandatory at the end of this year or the beginning of next year… We are in a great position. We have our world title shot. It’s locked in. We no longer have to chase our shot at a world title. We got it. What we do in between those moments for his development is important. He has the ability, now we need to build the strength for the tough fights in the trenches.
“Ideally, you want [the Alvarez fight], but you still can’t turn down the opportunity. He’s ready. With Diego, we have to climb the levels. That’s why I’m calling out Munguia and Mbilli. In my opinion, they are the guys who bridge the gap for Pacheco to face Canelo. When you fight Canelo, it’s always a jump. So you don’t want the jump to be too big. But we have time.
“We felt this performance against Sulecki was going to come. The development has been perfect. There’s a new level of maturity. He is getting more comfortable with everything. Look at the division, and there are some great fighters in the division, but show me another fighter at his age who is as exciting as he is – there is no one like Diego. On one hand, we don’t want to rush it and get it wrong. But then you see performances like that, you just want to let him go to see how great he can be because you know that the call is coming in 2025.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine, and more. He’s been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
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