Diego Pacheco Wants Hamzah Sheeraz Title Fight

The unbeaten contender says contract issues and changes to his team prevented the ordered WBO title fight from happening, not a reluctance to face the British champion

Diego Pacheco says he never ducked Hamzah Sheeraz and insists he still wants to fight the WBO super middleweight champion. The unbeaten contender says contract negotiations and changes to his training team, not fear of the matchup, caused their ordered title fight to collapse.

Pacheco, who also named Jaime Munguia as one of his preferred opponents, said criticism over the canceled Sheeraz fight was misplaced and blamed the situation on changes taking place outside the ring.

“Honestly, I want to go for my top two guys that I want to fight right now, Munguia and Sheeraz, because they both have a championship belt,” said Pacheco to Chicana Boxing. “And all this talk about me ducking Sheeraz, man, that is completely false. The boxing business is so crazy. My contract was coming to an end. It’s a long story, but I didn’t have a manager and I didn’t have no trainer. So I was trying to work all that out at the time. Let’s make them next for sure.”

Pacheco’s comments are the first detailed explanation he has given for why the ordered fight with Sheeraz never happened. After the matchup collapsed, some fans questioned why he had passed on the opportunity to fight for the vacant WBO title.

Pacheco disputed the idea that he avoided Sheeraz, saying his promotional contract was expiring while he was also without a manager and trainer during that period.

Pacheco first has business to handle against Immanuwel Aleem this Saturday, but he has already made his plans clear beyond that fight. If he gets past Aleem, the unbeaten contender wants his next opportunity to come against either Munguia or Sheeraz, with the long-discussed Sheeraz matchup once again firmly on his radar.