Undefeated Diego Pacheco faces Jack Cullen in the main event at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England on Saturday, March 11. The pair squares off in the scheduled for ten rounds bout with the vacant WBO International super middleweight title on the line. The event airs live stream on DAZN (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
Pacheco (17-0, 14 KOs) won six of his previous bouts prior to the final bell. In his most recent outing last December he stopped Ricardo Adrian Luna in the second round.
Los Angeles-born fighter, who just turned 22, makes his UK debut. Ahead of his bout against Little Lever’s 29-year-old representative of the country-host, he said he was looking to stop his Cullen (21-3-1, 9 KOs) and start being recognized as a contender.
“Jack Cullen I feel is a good opponent, finally someone that the fans know I guess,” said Pacheco. “If I beat him then it’s going to be like, ‘he beat this guy’, and I hope people are going to start believing in me a little bit more.
“After I get this win, I do feel that people will start recognizing me more as a contender than a prospect. He’s tall and he has a lot of heart, but I’m a way better fighter than him. I see myself stopping him. He won’t be able to take my power. Once I see the opening, I’ll take it.
“I think this fight is really important for my career. It’s really important that I put on a good performance. I wanna knock him out, I wanna stop him. In whatever round it comes in, whether it’s a body shot or a head shot, I just wanna to stop him.”
Pacheco trains in Seattle, Washington alongside two-time world champion David Benavidez under the guidance of Jose Benavidez Sr. Benavidez prepares to face Caleb Plant for the interim WBC title on March 25.
“I’ve been part of David Benavidez’ last five fights. Every camp here is really tough. It’s good work, it doesn’t get better than this. The first time I ever came down here, David reached out to me on the DMs. It was after my Saudi Arabia fight. He was like, ‘oh I was watching that, you’re really good, do you wanna come down and work with me?’. I was like ‘hell yeah’.
“That’s what has gotten me the great wins, the great knockouts – the preparation I’ve been doing. That’s the reason I’m here working with them. There are other great sparring partners in here as well and I’m preparing better than ever for this fight. The sparring doesn’t get better than this so I’m really thankful for that.
“Obviously it is really tough, David Benavidez is a really good fighter. Every time I’m in there with him I learn something new. He pushes me more than anyone else. That’s exactly what I need.”
In the co-main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr (23-3, 15 KOs) and Kent, UK-born Darragh Foley (21-4-1, 9 KOs), residing in Bondi, Australia square off in the ten-rounder at super lightweight. Also on the card, UK’s Johnny Fisher (7-0, 6 KOs) meets Italy’s Alfonso Damiani (6-2, 2 KOs) in an eight-rounder at heavyweight.
In Australia, the event airs live on Sunday, March 12.
Get Pacheco vs Cullen full fight card.
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