Diego Pacheco forced to grind out gutsy victory over Kevin Lele Sadjo after being dropped

It was not the highlight victory Diego Pacheco wanted, but the 24-year-old rising star proved he can grind out a gutsy win when forced to.

The undefeated super middleweight had to overcome being knocked down by a rugged Kevin Lele Sadjo in the eighth round, but Pacheco made enough adjustments to generate a hard-fought unanimous decision victory at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California, and live on DAZN , on Saturday night.

Judges inside the Stockton venue scored it 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 all in Pacheco's favor. DAZN News had it 116-111 for Pacheco.

Pacheco (25-0, 18 KOs) closes out his 2025 with three unanimous decision wins, having defeated Steven Nelson in January, Trevor McCumby in July and now Sadjo.

Although at one point Saturday night, a win did not look promising.

Though Pacheco asserted his jab and 11 inches of reach advantage early, it did not take long for Sadjo to get inside on the taller fighter, muscling and smothering him around the ring.

Pacheco worked Sadjo's body but the aggressive French fighter was unrelenting with his pressure until it finally paid off via a looping left hook that dropped Pacheco during the eighth round.

Pacheco would make it back onto his feet and made the adjustments needed to stun Sadjo with a compact right hand in the 11th round before unleashing a barrage of punches in an offensive outburst.

He would try to capitalize on a reeling Sadjo in the 12th and final round but could not hurt the 35-year-old boxer much more than that.

After the gritty fight, Pacheco shifted his sight to the bout he believes makes the most sense in 2026.

"I think the fight that interests me the most right now is Jaime Munguia," Pacheco told DAZN's Chris Mannix after the win. "He's a great fighter, a great Mexican warrior and I feel like that's the fight I'm missing right now to really get to that stardom."

Here's how the entire Pacheco vs. Sadjo main card went.

Results and headlines

• Diego Pacheco defeats Kevin Lele Sadjo via unanimous decision
• Eddie Hearn implores Vergil Ortiz Jr.'s camp to make the fight with Jaron 'Boots' Ennis happen just like Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson were able to do.
• Joe Cordina defeats Gabriel Flores by unanimous decision
• Ernesto Mercado defeats Antonio Moran via sixth-round knockout
• Skye Nicolson defeats Yuliahn Luna by unanimous decision to win WBC interim super bantamweight title