STOCKTON, California – Diego Pacheco recently returned home to Los Angeles for his training camp, where he was reminded of all sorts of familiar sights.
Pacheco will face Kevin Lele Sadjo in a 12-round super middleweight bout in the main event on Saturday’s card at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California.
Pacheco, 24-0 (18 KOs), will be trying to cap off a 2025 that saw him enter the top 10 of three of the four major sanctioning bodies. A 24-year-old who until recently had been working under Jose Benavidez Snr in the Seattle area, Pacheco will be facing a style he knows all too well.
“I grew up in Los Angeles, California, and I boxed in Mexico a lot,” Pacheco told BoxingScene. “The style that he brings is the style I have seen since I was a kid, and basically made me the boxer I am today.”
You will see some new and old faces in Pacheco’s corner Saturday. After training with Omar Villanueva early in his career, Pacheco left to train with Benavidez in 2022. In October, BoxingScene reported Pacheco had split ties with Benavidez, and he has since returned to working with Villanueva. The Sadjo fight will mark the debut of his newly formed team.
“I decided it was time for me to make my own team, Team Pacheco,” he said. “What better than to go back to the people who have known me since I was a kid? They know what I am good at and what I need to work on. That is what they are doing, and they focused 100 percent on me.”
Pacheco’s style is a blend of American and Mexican boxing. He has the ability (and length) to box on the outside and use angles, but he can also fight on the inside when needed. His versatility has seen him record unanimous decision victories over Steven Nelson in January and Trevor McCumby in July. Both fights were won behind his jab as he got full extension on his reach.
“I feel like composure is probably my best attribute – and my patience,” Pacheco said. “Even when I do get hit with a punch, I am able to stick to a game plan and do what I have to do.”
Pacheco also credits being around older people at a young age with helping learn patience at a young age. He was given heightened responsibilities at a young age, which he believes made him more mature, both inside and outside of the ring.
“I just feel like I am an old soul,” Pacheco said. “At 13 and 14, I was traveling on my own to national tournaments.”
Sadjo, 26-0 (23 KOs), is an unbeaten fighter from Cameroon who now resides in Creteil, Val-de-Marne, France. Sadjo, 35, burst onto the scene with a win over Jack Cullen in 2021 – a fight that displayed his physicality.
Pacheco believes this will be another good win that vaults him into a position for a big year in 2026.
“If you look at my BoxRec [boxing record], there are a lot of guys with good records on there,” Pacheco said. “You see what I do to them. I take care of business. I control fights. Most of the guys get knocked out. Sadjo is a good fighter, undefeated, with a lot of knockouts. It will be another great name and another great knockout under my belt.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
