Full Pacheco vs Cullen Undercard As Robbie Davies Jr Co-Headlines And Peter McGrail Makes Matchroom Debut
Pacheco vs Cullen Undercard Features Star Olympian, Commonwealth Title Fight And Local Super Lightweight Contender
One of the world’s leading prospects, 21-year-old Californian Diego Pacheco (17-0, 14 KOs) makes his UK debut against fan favourite, Little Lever’s Jack Cullen (21-3-1, 9 KOs) in the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card this Saturday, March 11 at the 9,000-capacity M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England live on DAZN.
Pacheco had a very successful 2022 with four outings resulting in him capturing and defending the WBC US Super Middleweight title and earning a top 10 ranking with the WBO. The highly-touted prospect will hope to repeat this activity in 2023 and further boost his growing profile as he starts to headline/co-feature.
Although he is only headlining due to the withdrawal of Callum Smith and Liam Paro, this could be a big blessing in disguise for him as all the attention on fight week will be on him for the first time in his pro career; much earlier than he probably expected. Pacheco is a part of the same team that represents Canelo Alvarez, John Ryder and Edgar Berlanga and the young American will soon look to be in that mix.
Cullen only managed one fight in 2022, a comeback against Vladimir Belujsky (12-3-1). A British title challenge against Mark Heffron was in the works for the Sep 24 Joyce-Parker card but didn’t materialise in the end. He was also supposed to return in December but pulled out due to COVID. Cullen starts a heavy underdog against Pacheco but he’s upset a top prospect before and will look to do so again.
Liverpool 140-pounder Robbie Davies Jr (23-3, 15 KOs) was supposed to land a big opportunity against world number 2 Liam Paro but the Aussie star, unfortunately, had to pull out injured just a couple of weeks out. Davies Jr remains on the card in the co-feature slot as Australian-based Irishmen Darragh Foley (21-4-1, 9 KOs) steps in on late notice.
2020 Olympian Peter McGrail (6-0, 5 KOs) makes his highly-anticipated Matchroom debut against Argentina’s Nicolas Nahuel Botelli (14-7, 8 KOs). Botelli dropped top Kazakh Sultan Zaurbek last April and currently holds the Argentinian Featherweight title coming off a 3-fight win streak.
Lightweight prospect Rhiannon Dixon (7-0) fights for her first title as she meets fellow undefeated Vicky Wilkinson (5-0-1) for the Commonwealth strap. Dixon has zero amateur pedigree but the backing of STN and Matchroom has elevated her to this platform whilst 39-year-old Wilkinson recorded 16 wins from 22 amateur contests but couldn’t secure the same support in her pro career.
Romford-based Heavyweight Johnny Fisher (7-0, 6 KOs), who has sold approximately 1,000 tickets for Saturday night, will face Italy’s Alfonso Damiani (6-2, 2 KOs) over eight rounds. Oldham’s Aqib Fiaz (10-0) takes on Dean Dodge (9-2-1, 3 KOs) in a career-toughest test over eight rounds at Super-Featherweight.
Campbell Hatton (9-0, 3 KOs) meets Michel Gonxhe (4-2-1), Paddy Lacey (7-0, 1 KO) and James McCarthy (2-4-1) collide in a Scouse derby and George Liddard (1-0, 1 KO) makes a second appearance against Daniel Przewieslik (3-12-2).
A 9-fight card is scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm GMT (11:30 am ET, 8:30 am PT) on the Matchroom Boxing/DAZN Boxing YouTube channels with the main card a couple of hours later at 7 pm GMT (2 pm ET, 11 am PT). Main Event Ring Walks will take place at approximately 10 pm GMT (5 pm ET, 2 pm PT).
Diego Pacheco v Jack Cullen – WBO International Super Middleweight Title – Sat March 11 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool – Live On DAZN
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