Diego Pacheco Wins Homecoming Fight by Knockout in LA

INGLEWOOD, CA.-Big homie Diego Pacheco returned to his South-Central Los Angeles roots and scorched Argentine strong boy Marcelo Coceres to win by knockout on Saturday in their super middleweight fight.

It was a big test for a variety of reasons.

“I’m happy with the outcome,” said Pacheco.

Pacheco (20-0, 17 KOs) defended his regional super middleweight titles successfully against Coceres (32-6-1, 18 KOs) but the Argentine fighter showed the more than 2,000 fans at YouTube Theater just what to expect from top 20 fighters.

After some measured opening rounds Pacheco and Coceres began opening up with the bombs and suddenly the crowd woke up to the sound of thunderous punches.

Though a few inches shorter Coceres always seemed dangerous behind his hunched stance and when he finally opened-up, left hooks crashed Pacheco’s jaw. Fans seemed surprised by the sudden violence.

At first it seemed like an accidental connection but Coceres kept launching wide left hooks and kept landing on Pacheco’s jaw. It seemed to wake up Pacheco who suddenly seemed more concerned.

“He was throwing awkward punches,” Pacheco said. “I caught on to him.”

Pacheco made adjustments to his strategy and realized that Coceres was even more dangerous than shaking a bottle of nitro. To make things even more perilous the Argentine’s head crashed into Pacheco’s face several times.

It was a learning experience.

Knowing he had an arena full of rabid fans Pacheco needed to concentrate and figure out how to turn up the juice.

“I was trying to be a little patient and not let the crowd get to me,” Pacheco said.

In the eighth round Coceres connected immediately with two left hooks. Pacheco took the blows in stride and fired a quick one-two and moved into full attack mode. An eight-punch barrage suddenly had the Argentine fighter in retreat and when he attempted to counter he was met with counter rights.

Pacheco was making a stand.

“I’m glad that happened,” said Pacheco of taking big blows.

In the ninth round Pacheco blasted a right to the body that seemed to affect Coceres. The Argentine tried to counter and was met with counter rights and when he tried to counter again Pacheco connected with a right uppercut. Coceres fired back and Pacheco countered with a right and left and a perfect right uppercut to the chin. Down went Coceres who was counted out by referee Ray Corona at 2:53 of the ninth round.

Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn was pleased by the outcome.

“He’s only 22 years old,” said the promoter Hearn. “He’s a future star for sure.

World Title Changes Hands

Mexico City’s Erika Cruz (17-2, 2 KOs) crashed her way past Venezuela’s Mayerlin Rivas (17-5-3, 11 KOs) with her combination of head-first aggression and constant punching to wrest the WBA super bantamweight title away by majority decision.

It was a distinct contrast of styles.

Cruz won her second division world title against another two-division world titlist Rivas with a battering style.

With crowds cheering for Cruz she used her unique style of charging forward with her head down like a battering ram and winging punches. She was the busier fighter in most of the rounds.

Rivas, the champion, tried to keep the fight in the middle of the ring and at a distance. She used jabs and tried to keep the fight at arms length. She was very leery of Cruz’s head which crashed into her face many times.

Through most of the fight Cruz was the busier fighter as Rivas worked on trying to catch the Mexican fighter with uppercuts and lead rights. It worked occasionally but the Mexican fighter who went 10 rounds with the great Amanda Serrano was not going to be deterred by the Venezuelan champion.

Back and forth the two fighters tried to dominate using their own styles and after 10 rounds that saw no knockdowns the three judges scored it 95-95, 98-92, 97-93 for Cruz who becomes the new WBA super bantamweight titlist.

“Rivas was very good and very tough,” said Cruz, the former featherweight champion who dropped down to super bantamweight for this match. “I was the busier fighter.”

Other Bouts

With shocking brevity Jonathan Rodriguez (17-1-1, 7 KOs) floored former world champion Khalid Yafai (27-2) twice before the knocking him around the ring and forcing referee Tom Taylor to end the fight at 2:17 of the first round.

It was expected to prove a testing ground for the former super flyweight champion as a bantamweight. No dice.

Rodriguez connected with a right cross to the chin right through Yafai’s guard and the ex-champion folded like a three-legged chair. He got up shakily and bravely tried to fight on and was caught with another right. Though it did not connect cleanly the force of the blow delivered Yafai to the canvas once again. He got up quickly but took the count.

Rodriguez knew he had Yafai hurt and was looking to set up another knockout blow. The British fighter was moving while trying to clear his head when Rodriguez pounced on him again. The American fighter unleashed four blows and Yafai seemed slightly unfocused. The referee stopped the fight.

Marc Castro (11-0) battered Chile’s Gonzalo Fuenzalida (12-3) round after round but found he was a tough nut to crack until the seventh round of their super featherweight clash. After dozens of blows it looked like the fighter from Fresno was about to run out of gas. But a few haymakers connected and referee Ray Corona stepped in to stop the match at 2:31 of the seventh round.

Los Angeles fighter Jaylen Walker (12-0-1) won the battle between knockout punchers as he stopped Jorge Villegas (14-2) in the second round. Walker was the sharper puncher and that sharpness proved the difference as he unloaded on the Mexican fighter after stunning him. The fight was stopped at 2:55 of the second round.

Criztec Bazaldua (3-0) stopped Pedro Cruz (3-4) in the fourth round of their lightweight match.

Photo credit: Al Applerose