Super middleweight Diego Pacheco got off the canvas to win on Saturday night.
Pacheco won a 12-round unanimous decision over unbeaten Kevin Lele Sadjo at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California. The bout served as the main event of a DAZN telecast.
The scores were 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112.
Pacheco, a 24-year-old from Los Angeles, used his 9ins reach advantage to win early rounds, but the undeterred 35-year-old Sadjo applied relentless, calculated pressure to turn the action his way. The 5ft 8ins Sadjo mauled Pacheco and forced contact at close range, where Pacheco’s 6ft 4ins frame and longer reach were less of a factor.
In the sixth, Pacheco began to target Sadjo’s body, but the inside fighting continued with more clinches. Pacheco suffered a small cut above his left eye during a head clash in that round. In the eighth, Sadjo dropped Pacheco with a left hook that jolted the crowd.
Sadjo continued to land clean punches on Pacheco, while Pacheco continued to find himself trapped on the inside with the much smaller fighter. Pacheco stayed constantly busy in the fight, but he was fighting Sadjo’s fight. It was in the closing rounds that he was finally able to pull away.
Pacheco rocked Sadjo in the 11th, unleashing violent flurries as the crowd got to its feet, rooting on Pacheco. Sadjo, despite being dazed, continued to press forward. In the 12th and final round, Pacheco and Sadjo both battled valiantly to the finish, as the fighters embraced, exhausted, at the final bell.
Pacheco extended his unbeaten record to 25-0 (18 KOs), while Sadjo, of Creteil, Val-de-Marne, France, lost his first fight as a pro to slip to 26-1 (23 KOs).
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
