Diego Pacheco showed both aspects of why he’s one of the most exciting young contenders in the sport tonight in Carson, California in his latest DAZN main event. The young star used his skills and physical advantages early, then absolutely detonated the guts of Maciej Sulecki with a savage power punch to the liver to close the show in the 6th round.
Pacheco (22-0, 18 KO) started slow and patient behind his huge reach advantage, content to jab from distance and frustrate Sulecki while earning rounds. Sulecki (32-3, 12 KO) couldn’t get inside, and seldom landed anywhere but Pacheco’s arms and gloves when he did close the gap. By the 3rd round, Pacheco had his timing dialed in well enough to land powerful counters on Sulecki charges without taking many meaningful punches in return.
Sulecki was hurt badly near the end of the 5th, then absolutely wrecked on a left hook body punch in the first minute of the 6th. That liver shot left Sulecki curled up in the fetal position, writhing on the canvas, unable to even sit up for almost a minute and a half.
It’s the first knockout loss of Sulecki’s career, a nice milestone for Pacheco that even world champion level fighters like Danny Jacobs and Demetrius Andrade couldn’t hit when they fought Sulecki.
After the ring announcement, Pacheco said he wants anyone in the top 10 next, with Eddie Hearn mentioning Jaime Munguia by name as a target matchup.
Eduardo Nunez TKO-6 Miguel Marriaga
Another powerful, punishing performance from Eduardo Nunez, though it took him a few minutes to really find his rhythm this time. Nunez (27-1, 27 KO) started out showing a lot of respect to Marriaga, earning some boos after the 1st round from fans who may have been expecting a quick finish. But, he found the front foot in the 2nd, hurting Marriaga badly on an over the top right hook late in the round.
Marriaga (31-8, 26 KO) was hurt again once or twice in the 3rd, got knocked down and almost out of the ring in the 4th, but kept fighting through it and landing the occasional meaningful counter against Nunez. But, the damage kept building, Nunez kept gaining steam, and Marriaga couldn’t reverse course. When Marriaga went down at the very end of the 6th, he managed to find his feet, but looked terrible. He wasn’t even all the way to the corner before a CSAC official quickly jumped in ahead of him and confirmed Marriaga’s team’s willingness to end it.
Arturo Cardenas SD-10 Jesus Arechiga
Split decision victory for Arturo Cardenas, but this is the second straight fight that he eked out on somewhat questionable scores, and it seems likely he’s hit his ceiling. Jesus Arechiga was a challenging matchup for him, giving us back-and-forth, tough to score action consistent with the fights that came before. Arechiga (21-2, 15 KO) looked sharper, bloodying the nose of Cardenas in the 5th round. But Cardenas (15-0-1, 8 KO) landed the harder punches of the two, and it was enough to earn him two out of three cards on official scores of 96-94 Arechiga, 98-92 Cardenas, and 96-94 Cardenas. The 8-2 card was hard to defend, and commentary was quick to call it “ridiculous.” But, the 6-4 either way was very reasonable.
Cheavon Clarke MD-10 Efetobor Apochi
Another tough one for Efetobor Apochi, as he once again takes the loss in an entertaining action fight. Nowhere near the pace we saw in the opener (more on that below), but this one was delightfully free of clinches, at least until Cheavon Clarke got unsteady in the final round.
Clarke (10-0, 7 KO) was rinsing blood from his mouth after the 7th round, but had his best moment rocking Apochi midway through the 8th. Clarke couldn’t put him down, though, and gassed himself out trying. Apochi (12-3, 12 KO) hurt Clarke at the very end of the 9th, but too late to capitalize before the bell rang. Apochi dominated the 10th, and I favored his work in the swing rounds to edge it his way on an unofficial 96-94 scorecard. But, the judges didn’t agree, giving Clarke the majority decision on official scores of 95-95, 98-92, and 97-93.
Ginny Fuchs SD-10 Adelaida Ruiz
Very high work rate from the very start, almost constant hooks in both directions from the opening bell. Fuchs (4-0, 1 KO) had slightly the better of it early, while Ruiz (16-1-1, 8 KO) had a better argument in the latter half of the fight. Tough one to parse and score because of the volume and roughly equal work from both women. Judges were very split, turning in cards of 100-90 Fuchs, 97-93 Ruiz, 97-93 Fuchs, and this was the very rare sort of fight where none of those scores were really outrageous. Ultimately, the split decision and the interim WBC super flyweight title went to Fuchs.
After the fight, Fuchs discovered that she’d fought nine of the ten rounds with a gruesome thumb fracture. She thought she had sprained it midway through the first, but realized it was actually a broken bone sticking out sideways through the skin when the gloves came off.