By: Sean Crose
Fighters may be plying their trade at much older ages than was previously common. Still, professional boxing is essentially a young man’s game. Diego Pacheco, however, might well be the youngest pro fighter of note at the moment. For, on Saturday night at the Auditorio Municipal Fausto Gutierrez in Tijuana, Mexico, the LA native will engage in his second professional bout – and he’s only 17. For this reason, the young man can’t fight in the United States until he’s 18. After an impressive amateur run, however, Pacheco felt it was simply time to enter the pro ranks of the sweet science.
“I’m excited to get back out so soon,” says the fighter, who bested Luis Gonzalez last December within a single round at the same Auditorio Municipal Fausto Guitierrez he will enter the ring in on Saturday. “Since the amateurs I’ve been fighting in Tijuana, and it feels great to get back there for my second pro fight.”
“The debut was a really good experience,” Pacheco says of his victory over Gonzalez late last year. “It was nothing like I expected, turning from amateur to pro, but it was a great experience and I can’t wait to do it again.” Pacheco’s opponent on Saturday will be another 1-0 fighter, Alberto Aguilar of Mexico. Pacheco believes fans will see an even stronger performance than they did in December. ““In my first fight I felt like was a little nervous,” he says, “so I felt like I was holding back a little bit, this fight I want to let my hands go a little more. It was towards the end of the round where I started letting my hands go, and that’s where I hit him and dropped him.”
Tall and lean, the middleweight is taking things at a reasonable pace. “By the end of this year,” he says, “I just want to get as much experience as I can. I’m only 17 so there’s no rush. Personally, I have a lot of guys that I want to get. I just want to put a good few first fights in and just take over when the time is right, I have a great team around me and we won’t be rushed.” Aligned with superpromoter Eddie Hearn, Pacheco will have powerful support on his quest for bigger things.
The Pacheco-Aguilar fight, scheduled for four rounds, will be aired live by the DAZN streaming service this Saturday night (2/23) as part of the Brandon Rios-Humberto Soto undercard.