Diego Pacheco didn’t need to be the star of the show for this one.
All that mattered to the unbeaten super middleweight contender was to be in a fight that moves the crowd.
Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs), will receive just that in a scheduled 12-round clash with Trevor McCumby, 28-1 (23 KOs). Their bout serves as the chief support to unbeaten lineal and WBC 115lbs champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), who will face WBO titlist Phumelele Cafu, 11-0-3 (8 KOs), in a two-belt unification clash.
Saturday’s event – which will air live on DAZN (7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. local time, midnight BST) – from The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas – marks the fourth time when Pacheco and Rodriguez have fought on the same bill. It’s the first, however, when the pair of young guns serve as the night’s one-two punch.
“Bam has always been a great fighter and is a great role model for all of us in the sport,” Pacheco told BoxingScene of the two-division champ and high-ranking pound-for-pound entrant. “It’s an honor to be his co-feature this weekend. He’s a hell of a fighter and I consider myself a hell of a fighter. So I feel like the Texas fans are really in for a great show.
“The way I see it, as the co-feature, this is a fight where we both leave it all in the ring and [it] has the chance to steal the night.”
Pacheco, 24, takes on a veteran contender in the 32-year-old McCumby, who saw his stock go up even in defeat against Caleb Plant last September. McCumby scored a flash knockdown in the fourth and gave fits to the former IBF 168lbs titlist before he fell apart late and was stopped in the ninth round of their WBA interim title fight.
Just as being in the presence of a pound-for-pound talent such as the 25-year-old Rodriguez has helped set a standard, Pacheco has another high bar he can clear with this matchup. The natural inclination will be to compare his performance to that of Plant, who was still a proven, top super middleweight at the time of his win over McCumby.
“The goal is to put on a way better performance than Caleb Plant did against McCumby,” vowed Pacheco. “It’s a hard task, but I’m all in for it.
“I’m going in there with my best and am gonna let everyone know at 168 that they need to go through me.”
A win would push Pacheco that much closer to his first major title fight.
The unbeaten contender from South Central Los Angeles is the No. 1 contender to the WBO title and No. 3 in the WBC. All of the division’s hardware is currently owned by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 63-2-2 (39 KOs), who will next face Terence Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), atop a September 13 Netflix event from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Given the Hall of Fame credentials of both fighters and the magnitude of the event, it’s clear that the rest of the division will have to look somewhere other than the winner of that fight for their next opportunity.
That leaves fighters like Pacheco and others to carve out their own path. So it made sense for Matchroom Boxing – Pacheco’s career-long promoter – to pair up two of its rising stars, even as both have fared well as separate headlining acts.
Pacheco has already enjoyed the taste of being the main event – several times over the past couple of years, in fact. He shone as the main attraction on DAZN in his January 25 points win over unbeaten Steven Nelson in Las Vegas.
More important than where his name appears in the lineup, though, is the place he continues to hold in pursuit of a major title.
“I believe in myself and know what I bring to the table,” noted Pacheco. “I’ve headlined before and I’ll have more headliners in the future. [Saturday] is all about pushing forward in my own tough fight against a proven contender.
“Trevor McCumby is a good fighter. I know what he brings; he’s strong and he’s coming to fight, coming to win. You mix that with me, a young fighter who can punch and box, it makes for a great fight. It’s going to be a great test, but I’ve spent my whole life preparing for moments like this. I’m gonna get in there and show the world what I’m about.”
