In disposing of rugged veteran Maciej Sulecki via a sixth-round knockout on a liver shot Saturday night, Diego Pacheco has plenty of enticing opportunities ahead.
Here, DAZN looks at three possible opponents for the undefeated 23-year-old Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs).
The winner of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga
In defeating Maciej Sulecki, Diego Pacheco protected his WBO No. 1 contender status for Canelo Alvarez's WBO super middleweight title.
Now, Alvarez defends his unified 168-pound titles against Edgar Berlanga on September 14, live on DAZN. Pacheco's mandatory challenger status to that winner being honored next would be the ideal scenario for the South Central Los Angeles product.
However, the business of boxing might have something to say about that which brings us to our next option.
Jaime Munguia
Thinking it could be some time before Pacheco's mandatory challenger status is granted in an official world title shot, Eddie Hearn has just the fight to make during the interim period.
The Matchroom Boxing promoter told DAZN's Chris Mannix on Saturday night: "He's going to be the mandatory to the winner of Canelo Alvarez against Edgar Berlanga. But we need another fight. We need a fight in between. The fight I would love to make is Diego Pacheco against Jaime Munguia. I think that is a brilliant, brilliant fight."
The risk in such a fight would be that Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) is a bit more seasoned. The reward, though, is a victory over Munguia and Pacheco would aptly prepare himself for that world title shot next.
Christian Mbilli
If that mandatory title shot doesn't immediately come to fruition, Pacheco told Mannix that he's up for fighting any Top 10-ranked super middleweight.
Well, Christian Mbilli fits the bill. Like Pacheco, Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) is undefeated. His latest win — a unanimous decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko — just came in August as well, meaning Mbilli and Pacheco are on the same timetable to get a possible fight made.
In addition, such a clash would also provide Pacheco with a stern challenge — one that he could only grow from as a boxer on the rise.
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