SINCE rising the rankings, Diego Pacheco has appeared hesitant to swim too close to the shore and face the elite contenders in the super-middleweight division. Biding his time rather than being in hot pursuit of an eventual showdown with Canelo Alvarez, Pacheco has trodden a different path from others at the weight.
It seemed as though the Californian would step up for his toughest test to date, in a bid for the WBC interim title and subsequent position as mandatory challenger. However, it has now been revealed that the 24-year-old pulled out on the day before the proposed purse bids.
Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs), outpointed Steven Nelson in a battle of undefeated 168-lbers back in January. That was expected to be the first fight in a breakthrough year for the lanky youngster. News then filtered through that purse bids had been called for a scrap between Diego and highly-rated Frenchman Christian Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs). Suddenly, the fans were excited.
However, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed last night that Diego Pacheco has withdrawn from the contest and that purse bids had been cancelled as a result.
Instead, Dan Rafael reports that Pacheco will move on and fight Illinois-born Trevor McCumby, 28-1 (21 KOs), on a Matchroom card this summer. McCumby will enter that proposed bout off the back of an impressive effort against Caleb Plant on the Canelo-Berlanga undercard in September, despite losing via ninth-round stoppage and suffering a first career defeat.
As for Mbilli, WBC #3 Osleys Iglesias, 13-0 (12-0 KOs), appears to be taking the IBF route and pursuing a clash with Kevin Lele Sadjo, meaning the next available contender is undefeated WBC #4, Luka Plantic, 11-0 (9 KOs). The Croatian is expected to receive the call to fight Mbilli for the WBC interim title shortly.
