With his number-one ranking from the WBO, Diego Pacheco is perhaps a year away from fighting for a world title in the super middleweight division. But his promoter doesn’t want an easy outing for Pacheco when the 23-year-old from Renton, Washington, faces Maciej Sulecki on Saturday night.
“This is a real fight,” said Eddie Hearn. “He’s going to get ordered to fight for the world championship in the next eight-to-12 months. Unfortunately for a lot of super middleweights, the world champion is ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. But that’s OK, because Diego still needs two or three fights before he fights him. But he’s going to fight him if he gets through tests like this.”
Pacheco-Sulecki will headline on DAZN from the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Pacheco (21-0, 17 KOs) knocked out all three of his opponents in 2023, taking out Jack Cullen in four, Manuel Gallegos in four and Marcelo Coceres in nine. The Coceres fight was the longest Pacheco had fought — until April 2024, when he outpointed Shawn McCalman over the course of 10 rounds.
Sulecki, a 35-year-old from Warsaw, Poland, is 32-2 (12 KOs). His defeats came at middleweight against Daniel Jacobs by unanimous decision in 2018 and Demetrius Andrade via shutout in 2019. Sulecki stepped away after a victory towards the end of 2021 and returned in June 2023 as a super middleweight. He’s recorded two wins since, including a decision in May over the 11-5-1 Rowdy Legend Montgomery.
“One thing I noticed in the head-to-head is Sulecki is a big guy,” Hearn said. “When he was down at 160, I remember him making weight; he was so tight at 160. Actually, Diego is a huge 168-pounder, but Sulecki is bringing some size here as well. We saw him against Andrade. We saw him against Daniel Jacobs. This is a tough fight for Diego, but I think [it’s] the kind of fight where he can make a statement; where he can show us that he’s really ready.”
During the press conference, Sulecki promised “to take [Pacheco] into deep waters and drown him”.
Said Hearn: “In a way, you want him to go into deep waters, because when you face the levels of [Jaime] Munguia and [Christian] Mbilli and ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, you need to have gone through that adversity. Sometimes you’re too good; you can’t be taken there. But I expect Sulecki to push him. I expect him to take him to deep waters. And if Diego doesn’t get rid of him early in this fight, it’s going to get tough. But I want that.”
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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