Pacheco’s Path To Canelo: Hearn Seeks “Bridging Fight”

Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to find an opponent for Diego Pacheco to fight next that will help him “bridge the gap” to get him ready for a fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) stopped Maciej Sulecki (32-3, 12 KOs) in the sixth round on Saturday night at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Hearn says he doesn’t want to rush Pacheco, 23, but at the same time, he wants him to be ready for the Canelo fight if he receives a call.

Hearn wants Pacheco to fight one of these three next:

– Jaime Munguia
– Christian Mbilli

No Rush, But Ready for the Call

“We don’t want to rush him and get it wrong, but then when you see performances like that. the call is coming in 2025 when the WBO sent me that beautiful email to say Diego Pacheco has been mandated to fight for a world title,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the media about when Diego Pacheco will get a world title shot. “We got to be ready.”

If Pacheco does take a step up, he needs to focus on fighting someone like David Morrell, Mbilli, Munguia, or Osleys Iglesias.

“Let’s say we get that call, and it’s Canelo. Fingers crossed, Edgar Berlanga can do the business. If you look at Berlanga, he never really had that bridging fight between this and Canelo. That’s very difficult to get. Ideally, you want it, but you still can’t turn down the opportunity.

Time on Their Side

“He’s ready, and he’ll give everything. But with Diego, we actually have time with that fight to close the levels. That’s why I call out Munguia and Mbilli, and I call out those guys because, in my opinion, those are the guys that bridge the gap from where we are now to Canelo Alvarez.

“When you jump to Canelo Alvarez, it’s always a jump, but you don’t want a jump to be too big. One thing that we’ve got is time, but we’ll be led by Jose [Benavidez Sr], Diego, and the team. We’ll put our ideas together about the next opponent. I think we’re all on the same page,” said Hearn.