A patient
Diego Pacheco muted
Trevor McCumby’s posturing with a polished jab to pepper his way to a near-shutout unanimous decision win Saturday in Frisco, Texas.
The workmanlike win was comfortable, clear and decisive, but left many desiring for more risks from Pacheco (24-0, 18 KOs), who never switched into second gear and rarely threw punches with mean intentions against McCumby (28-2, 21 KOs).
Judges scored the contest in favor of Pacheco via scores of 120-108, 119-109, and 119-109. Pacheco outlanded McCumby 148-60 in the 12-round fight, with 112 of the shots being jabs, according to CompuBox.
“I felt OK with the performance,” said Pacheco. “I was trying to find my distance, work my jab, and control the fight. I was looking for some shots, but Trevor made it tough to pull off on him. All I was worried about was getting this win and preparing for the next one. I had to take care of business, and I know there are big fights coming after this. I want anybody in the top 10 as I close my way into a world title.”
Pacheco’s long, stiff jab was working wonders all night, but the nearly 10,000 fans at The Ford Center at The Star were not in favor of the one-dimensional offense, as a smattering of boos rained down. Despite there being blood drawn, it certainly
never came close to the war Pacheco envisioned.
An accidental headbutt caused a cut near McCumby’s left eyebrow with less than a minute to go in the second round.
McCumby's face was a crimson mask throughout the rest of the matchup, and he couldn’t break through Pacheco’s range.
The heavy-handed McCumby mustered spurts of offense with an overhand right hand that connected at times, but the power punches that were few and far between didn’t faze Pacheco.
McCumby parlayed a career-best performance in a loss against Caleb Plant in September to get pitted against Pacheco, but he proved early on that he was not in the same class as The Ring’s No. 2-ranked 168-pounder.
“He's a strong fighter who was trying to bait me in so he can throw sneaky counter shots, so I had to be ready for those,” said Pacheco. “I felt like my jab was there all day, so I stayed behind my jab. I was controlling the fight from the outside. Trevor is a great fighter, and that's why I chose him as my opponent, because I knew he'd test me.”
The co-main event fight took place as part of the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN, headlined by the super flyweight title unification fight between The Ring and WBC champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and WBO titleholder Phumelela Cafu.
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan