Super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco and light welterweight Richardson Hitchins will be in action in separate fights on April 6th on a Matchroom Boxing card at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
In the main event, the unbeaten Pacheco (20-0, 17 KOs) will be battling little-known Shawn McCalman (15-0, 7 KOs).
Pacheco: A Step Back or Calculated Move?
This is arguably a step backward for the 22-year-old Pacheco from his last contest against Marcelo Coceres last November.
Pacheco took some big shots in that fight and looked timid at times; hence, Matchroom is backing him off from the forward progression that they’d been doing with him and stepping him backward against a softer target in 30-year-old McCalman, a fighter that has been operating under the radar of fans his entire six-year career, facing obscure opposition exclusively.
Developing Pacheco for the Long Haul?
Pacheco is ranked #2 WBO, #4 IBF, #4 WBC, and #7 WBA at super middleweight, but he’s clearly NOT ready to fight for a world title against the champions Canelo Alvarez or David Morrell Jr.
Matchroom needs to slowly develop Pacheco for five or six years before he’s ready to challenge for a world title because, based on his performance against Coceres, he’s nowhere close to being ready to fight for a world title.
Hitchins: Punch-and-Run or Entertainer in Disguise?
In the co-feature spot, unbeaten light welterweight contender Richardson Hitchins (17-0, 7 KOs) will fight Gustavo Daniel Lemos (29-0, 19 KOs) in an IBF final eliminator to determine a mandatory for champion Subriel Matias. Hitchins is not ready for Matias.
Hitchins has got to show some courage to stand in the pocket because he was getting booed badly in his recent fight against Jose Zepeda last September. Using his punch-and-run style, Hitchins looked like a carbon copy of Shakur Stevenson, and the crowd really hated it.
That style is going to make Hitchins avoided for his entire career because he’s so boring to watch. It’ll be interesting to see if the short 5’5 1/2″ Lemos will be able to get to Hitchins to land his shots. Hitchins is a runner, and he’ll be moving all around the ring all night to avoid getting hit by Lemos.
Hopefully, Hitchins abandons that style of his and shows some courage because he’s going to have the Las Vegas crowd booing nonstop if he runs from the Argentinian Lemos. This is Las Vegas, and fans want to be entertained. Hitchins is not an entertainer. He’s a pot-shot fighter in the Floyd Mayweather Jr. & Shakur Stevenson mold.