By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
The first major boxing fight of the year in Sin City took place Saturday night as number one rated super middleweight Diego Pacheco (23-0, 18 KOs), of Los Angeles and Steven “So Cold” Nelson (20-1, 16 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska squared off at the Chelsea Theater at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in headlining live on DAZN.
In what was a solid outing by the 23-year-old Pacheco in earning the unanimous decision.
Starting off slow, the taller Pacheco sized up pawing the jab with Nelson lurking in the opening round. Pacheco kept at it sticking the jab in the second and keeping his distance but late in the round Nelson closed strong connecting with a hard right.The pace remained the same, continuing to box in the third, Pacheco stayed on task fighting smart with Nelson pressing the action looking for the fight. An overhand right by Nelson connected in the fourth as Pacheco continued working off the jab and caught Nelson with a hard right coming in as a cut opened up on Nelson’s left eye as he was starting to bleed.
The momentum changed heading into the fifth with Pacheco pressing now as Nelson was bleeding badly from his cut on the left eye. Starting to display some flash, Pacheco let his hands go and mixed it up with Nelson on the receiving end of the shots. The offense began to pick up from Pacheco in the seventh as he connected Nelson with sharp combinations and countered effectively inside as the South Central Los Angeles fighter had his best moment of the fight thus far. Fighting with poise and in control, Pacheco ripped Nelson with a hard right hand in the eighth, Nelson began to bleed more as Pacheco kept targeting upstairs as the Nebraska fighter’s cut bled profusely.
Having his way in the ninth, Pacheco displayed the ring generalship as he was in control of Nelson. The cut appeared to be bothering Nelson as it was all Pacheco late in the fight. Pacheco boldly connected Nelson with a power shot in the tenth and continued to target the cut on the eye as Pacheco had his way. Well on his way to the victory, Pacheco displayed offense in the championship rounds as he pumped the jab and followed up with big shots connecting Nelson effectively. The final round saw action as Pacheco traded away in the center. Nelson sensing the urgency was looking for that big shot for the knockout but Pacheco stood in the pocket mixing it up as Pacheco suffered a slight cut in closing.
After completing twelve rounds all three judges scored the bout 117-111 for Pacheco.
Pacheco didn’t convince me he needs more determination or aggressiveness. He got some power in his hands, but he has to learn how to capitalize a fight. He also needs more speed. He’s kind of too slow. I don’t see him as a champion in his division.
Good fight, sure wish Nelson could pull it off, but about the right scores. I didn’t see anything special about Pacheco, but maybe Nelson gave him fits plus he has a beard. Definitely would like to see Pacheco in with mbilli. Nelson deserves another semi big fight in my opinion.
why does he deserve another big fight because hes black?
Ah, no. Because he fought a good fight and it is in my humble opinion he displayed heart. He would provide another contender or even on the cusp of fighting for the title a good fight. By the way, I’m a white guy and I don’t look at race in fact I don’t like when anyone places race above anything because before we are whatever color we are. We are human.
I love going to shows at the Chelsea. There’s not a bad seat in the house!
I felt BoMac really dropped the ball in this fight by not being intense with Nelson until the last couple rounds. Everytime Nelson applied serious pressure Pacheco had difficulty with it. He didn’t push Nelson to do anything in the mid rounds and it cost him the victory. Some trainers are overrated.
I was shocked Nelson didn’t change tactics and make it a fight until the 11th round. Very bizarre strategy!
especially davis,haney,stevenson and crawfords trainers all all overrated
Seeing as all of them are or were champions, who would you say are highly rated trainers?