CARSON, Calif. – Diego Pacheco was having a successful time headhunting, but it was a devastating body shot that ultimately got the job done Saturday at Dignity Sports Park, as a surgically placed left-hook liver quiver knocked out Maciej Sulecki in the sixth round.
The official time of the stoppage came at 54 seconds of the sixth, when a crushed and collapsed Sulecki couldn’t find the strength to pick himself up off the canvas. Even after the 10-count, Sulecki was still laid out for an extended sequence.
The mounting damage that preceded the fight-ending punch allowed Pacheco (22-0 18 KOs) to punctuate his performance with a highlight-reel finish against Sulecki (32-3 12 KOs), the toughest test of his ascending career.
Pacheco outlanded Sulecki 81 to 49 in the fight and landed just eight shots to the body.
The super middleweight fight headlined a Matchroom Boxing show in Carson, just outside Los Angeles.
The first two rounds were cautious and calculated, with both fighters standing tall and mostly throwing one punch at a time.
Pacheco and Sulecki warmed up in the open-air arena by the third round and started opening up, as Pacheco fired the right hand with mean intentions, thuddingly connecting several times.
Pacheco continued to build on newfound momentum and rhythm in the fourth with a right uppercut and a flush right hand. Sulecki answered with an attack of his own, landing a couple of hard shots in the closing seconds of the stanza, drawing a nod of approval and a smirk from Pacheco when the bell sounded.
Fighting for the legacy of his late brother Manuel, who passed away in April, an inspired Pacheco unleashed an incredible attack in the closing seconds of the fifth round, walking down and slugging away at Sulecki around the ring with a barrage of unanswered shots.
Pacheco outlanded Sulecki 19-6 in the round and appeared to set up his stoppage with the barrage.
The only punch Pacheco landed in the sixth was the knockout blow.
Sulecki, a 35-year-old from Warsaw, Poland, came into the fight having lost only to Daniel Jacobs in 2018 and Demetrius Andrade in 2019 in the lone title shot of his career.
Pacheco, a 23-year-old from Los Angeles, continues to plant himself as a credible contender to 168-pound king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s throne. Alvarez is next set to face Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14, but the Mexican superstar is running out of respectable foes to face in the division.
The win against Sulecki was the best of Pacheco’s six-year career and a nice comeback win following a rugged unanimous decision win against a gritty Shawn McCalman, which ended Pacheco’s nine-fight knockout streak.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on , , and , through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via .