Undefeated super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (18-0, 15 KOs) made easy work of British fighter Jack Cullen (21-4-1, 9 KOs), knocking him out in the fourth round on Saturday night in a 10 round scheduled fight in the main event at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.
After just barely missing with some massive homerun shots in rounds one through three, Pacheco landed a beautiful counter left to the body of Cullen in the fourth round that put him down on the canvas.
Cullen, 29, was badly hurt, grimacing while on the canvas, but surprisingly, he returned to his feet. The 22-year-old Pacheco then landed two jabs followed by two huge head-snapping right hands that sent Cullen falling into the ropes.
Pacheco then finished the job with a left hook to the head that sent Cullen sagging to the canvas, looking badly hurt. The fight was then halted at :47 of the fourth. There was no way that Cullen could get up from that knockdown. A stool had to be brought in for him to sit down to recover.
With the fast victory, Pacheco outdid the sixth round knockout recorded by France’s Kevin Lele Sadjo in 2021. Like tonight, Sadjo hurt Cullen with a body shot that put him down. It was impressive that the 22-year-old Pacheco got Cullen out of there faster than the much older 30-year-old Sadjo did two years ago.
Pacheco showed that he’s ready to be stepped up a level by his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. Putting him in with British domestic-level fighters like Cullen is a complete waste of Pacheco’s time, as he needs to fight world class opposition, and he’s spinning his wheels fighting these types of fighters.
Pacheco was given the main event slot after light heavyweight contender Callum Smith pulled out of his fight with Pawel Stepien due to an injury.
The way Pacheco fights, he would have beaten Callum if the two had fought. Pacheco is a better talent and deserves to be fighting in the headliner spots, but that would require him to be matched against better opposition than Cullen.
In the co-feature spot, light welterweight Darragh Foley (22-4-1, 10 KOs) defeated the always-tough Robbie Davies Jr (23-4, 15 KOs) by a third round injury stoppage.
Foley put Davies down with a nice right to the head in the second, and then a round later, he knocked him down a second time. The bout was then halted due to Davies suffering an ankle injury.
In other action, undefeated heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher (8-0, 7 KOs) stopped Alfonso Damiani (6-3, 2 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 2:05 of the fourth.
Light welterweight prospect Campbell Hatton (10-0, 3 KOs) put in a workmanlike performance, beating Michel Gonxhe (4-3-1, 0 KOs) by a six round points decision. The score was 59-55.
Unbeaten super bantamweight Peter McGrail (7-0, 5 KOs) dominated Nahuel Botelli (14-8, 8 KOs), beating him by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90.
