Diego Pacheco and Immanuwel Aleem are officially on for Saturday night. Pacheco weighed in at 167.8 pounds and Aleem came in at 167 pounds on Friday, both comfortably under the super middleweight limit ahead of their headliner at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Pacheco’s WBC Silver and WBO International titles will be on the line when the Matchroom Boxing card streams live on DAZN at 8 pm ET, 5 pm PT.
Pacheco (25-0, 18 KOs) enters ranked number three by the WBO, number four by both the WBC and IBF, and number seven by the WBA. The 25 year old from Los Angeles recently signed a new multi-fight agreement with Matchroom, and Saturday marks his first fight under Hall of Fame trainer Buddy McGirt. It is also his second appearance at the Carson venue, where he knocked out Maciej Sulecki in 2024. In his most recent outing last December, Pacheco ground out a unanimous decision over Kevin Sadjo, a fight in which he was dropped and drew criticism for extended stretches of holding.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God, I want to thank my management team, Sheer Sports, my training team, Buddy McGirt, and Coach Omar, everyone who’s been part of my team,” Pacheco said at Thursday’s final press conference. “This has been one of the best camps I’ve ever had, and I’m just ready this Saturday. We’ve done everything necessary to prepare for anything Aleem brings. I’m just looking forward to a great night of boxing and having my hand raised.”
“I definitely take him seriously, he’s a good fighter and I take nothing from him. But he’s never been in there with anyone like me. I’m confident in the work we put in this camp. Ever since I turned pro, I’ve never let my foot off the gas. I’ve always done what I’ve had to do. That’s why I’m here today. I didn’t get this far just to get this far.”
Pacheco made no secret of where he wants the win to lead. “I’m not looking past this Saturday. We’re looking forward to this fight, but we have our eyes set on the bigger picture, and that’s becoming a World champion,” he said. “I feel like I’m one of the best fighters in the division for sure. Hopefully Matchroom and Sheer Sports can figure out how they can get me this World title fight.”
On the decision to bring in McGirt, Pacheco explained in a Matchroom release: “I felt like we needed someone who’s been at that high level, who’s been a World champion, who’s been in the corner of a lot of World championship fights. I feel Buddy was a perfect guy. In the past, I feel like I’ve had coaches who just let stuff slide because of my height and the things I can do, they thought I could get away with certain things. Buddy’s a real old school fighter who, you know, everything has to be on point.”
McGirt, for his part, believes there is more in the tank. “I don’t believe he’s scratched the surface yet with his talent, he hasn’t used all of the talent that he has,” McGirt said. “He’s got by doing just what he’s been doing, but the key is to make him better, to make the fights much easier.”
At the press conference, the trainer added a note of caution. “We know what’s ahead of us Saturday night. We’re not stupid. The key is to get in there and handle our business,” McGirt said. “We know that when you fight someone that has everything to gain and nothing to lose, they’re dangerous. I just see the look in this camp’s eyes. We know what we got to do Saturday night. If we do what we supposed to do, everything will be cool.”
Aleem (22-4-3, 14 KOs), 32, is a former WBC Silver titleholder at 168 himself, having stopped Ievgen Khytrov in 2017 to claim the belt. He comes to Carson off a unanimous decision loss to Lester Martinez in March for the interim WBC super middleweight title, and he made clear on Thursday that he views Pacheco’s tactics as a target.
“I’m just prepared for the occasion. There’s a body on Saturday; I got to go get it,” Aleem said, per the official press conference transcript. “I’m a real boxer. I’ve been in this sport since I was 12. I know what is at stake. Besides all the other stuff that comes around, this is hands versus hands. And I know what these hands can do. They know what these hands can do.”
“I know he holds probably three to four times a round. Referees need to really identify that and hopefully he doesn’t make this a hugging match, and we can really throw hands. I fight everybody who’s been tall, look at my record. I’m normally the shorter fighter nine times out of 10. It’s another day in the boxing ring for me. It’s my time for myself.”
Omar Aleem, speaking for the challenger’s corner, went further. “We are prepared, fearless, extremely fearless. We are coming. We want those belts. I said we wanted Pacheco and here we are. We trained for you, we’ve been ready and he’s just a blockage for Canelo. That’s what we want, so when we get rid of you, we want Canelo.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn framed the night as part of a busy run. “This weekend, we have one of our first ever stars with Matchroom Boxing in the USA, with Diego Pacheco against Immanuwel Aleem in a breathtaking fight at Dignity Health Sports Park, a brilliant night of boxing throughout before we go next week to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for the return of Anthony Joshua,” Hearn said.
In the co-feature, two-time Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz (6-1, 3 KOs) faces Abraham Montoya after original opponent Albert Bell withdrew to pursue a title opportunity. Cruz is coming off a majority decision loss to IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla in January. “I feel good, I’m ready to be back in the ring,” Cruz said. “I have learned something with every fight whether I win or lose. I’m anxious to be back and show what Andy Cruz has. My focus right now is on Saturday and to give a great show against a fighter like Montoya.”
Montoya sees his own opening. “I saw that last fight between Andy and Muratalla, and I do believe that he won that fight, so being able to face him is a blessing,” he said. “As soon as I got that, my team immediately accepted. We said yes.”
The undercard also features unbeaten featherweight Albert Gonzalez (17-0, 10 KOs) against former title challenger Aaron Alameda (30-3, 17 KOs), bantamweights Saul Sanchez and Bruno Rios, unbeaten British heavyweight Leo Atang, and heavyweight Federico Pacheco Jr., Diego’s brother. “It’s a very big night for the family on Saturday night,” Federico said. “It’s a young group of Heavyweights, but I’m the only Mexican on the rise. I take a lot of pride in that and I’m going to make sure I exceed the expectations of a Mexican Heavyweight and I’m excited for Saturday.”
The full card streams live worldwide on DAZN, with main event ringwalks expected at approximately 11 pm ET, 8 pm PT.
