By: Sean Crose
Rising super middleweight Diego Pacheco returned to action Saturday night, taking on Marcelo Coceres in a scheduled twelve rounder. The fight, which was the main event of a DAZN broadcast card, went down at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California. Both the 19-0 Pacheco and the 32-5-1 Coceres answered the opening bell behind high guards. The first was something of a feeling out process for both fighters. The second saw an aggressive Coceres largely play bull to Pacheco’s bullfighter.
By the third it was clear that Pacheco was fighting patiently, waiting for his chance to land and land well. Coceres was indeed an opponent who could push a fight. His skill set, however was rather crude. Still, the Argentine fighter had his moments and was certainly in the ring to win. There was an accidental head butt in the fourth. Other than that, Coceres continued to push forward while the largely defensive Pacheco merely jabbed at times.
The fifth was close, with Pacheco landing the better punches, but with Coceres largely dictating the action. The same could be said of the sixth. Pacheco may have been winning, but it didn’t look like he was winning. Plus, he ate a left from Coceres at the end of the round. Pacheco was able to be a smooth defensive fighter in the seventh, but he wasn’t throwing much. Another accidental headbutt briefly stopped the action roughly halfway through the round. Overall, Pacheco looked hesitant.
With that being said, Pacheco came alive in the eighth, taking the fight to his opponent and landing well with furious combinations. Sure enough, a beautiful combination, culminating with a powerhouse uppercut abruptly put Coceres down, and out, in the ninth. From the canvas, Coceres showed that he was a beaten man by refusing to get up, opting instead to be counted out.