Undefeated 168-pound contender Diego Pacheco will face Steven Nelson on January 25 in Las Vegas. Pacheco (22-0, 18 KO) wants to stay busy in 2025 and a fight with undefeated #13 WBO Nelson (20-0, 16 KO) is one way to do that.
Lance Pugbmire (@pugboxing) reports that Pacheco will fight Nelson on January 25th in Las Vegas. This is another step forward in the career of the 23-year-old Pacheco.
This is a decent fight for Paccheco, but not the one he cares about. He wants to challenge for a world title, but it may take His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to do that.
Pacheco is in position to challenge unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for his titles. However, he may not have a fighting chance against the Mexican star if he chooses to serve him. One thing the 6’4″ Pacheco has going for him is that he hasn’t looked unbeatable in his six-year career, and he’s young at 23.
It won’t be surprising if Canelo picks Pacheco if he looks poor in his fight against Nelson. He can’t afford to look good against Nelson because he doesn’t deliver
Nelson, 36, is very much in the tooth and has yet to fight anyone of note during his eight-year professional career. Die-hard fans rate Nelson highly, but he has yet to beat anyone to deserve the praise. He is a 36 year old who looks old.
Steven Nelson’s recent matches:
– Marcos Vasquez
– Rowdy Legend Montgomery
– James Ballard
– DeAndre Ware
– Jem Kilic
Those five fights consumed four years of Nelson’s career until 2024, and he’s too old to rarely fight fighters at this level.
Pacheco is ranked #1 WBO, #3 WBC and #4 IBF. He is able to challenge Canelo’s WBO if the sanctioning body so orders. Nelson is ranked #13 in the WBO. It would be higher if he were more active and have heard about the opposition fans.
Eddie Hearn promoted Pacheco’s recent wins
– Maciej Sulecki
– Sean McCalman
– Marcelo Koceres
– Manuel Gallegos
– Jack Cullen
Nelson needs to start moving his career forward because he’s too old to still wrestle in scrubs. He got lucky here with Pacheco picking him, but once this fight is over, he could be right back where he started, fighting unknown opposition for the rest of his career.
