Diego Pacheco’s promoter thinks the vulnerability the undefeated super middleweight showed Saturday night might actually help his cause.

Now that Pacheco suffered his first knockdown as an amateur or pro, Eddie Hearn wouldn’t be surprised if apprehensive potential opponents change their minds about boxing him. Los Angeles’ Pacheco has developed into one of the top fighters in the 168-pound division, yet Hearn has had trouble finding highly rated super middleweights willing to face him.

Kevin Lele Sadjo was unbeaten before he opposed Pacheco at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California. The Cameroonian contender hadn’t fought anyone nearly as good as the taller, hard-punching Pacheco, but his own power made matters interesting.

Sadjo’s left hook dropped Pacheco about 45 seconds into the eighth round. Pacheco recovered, regained control of the bout and won the 12-rounder comfortably on two scorecards (117-110, 116-111 and 115-112).

“I was saying to the guys,” Hearn told DAZN’s Chris Mannix, “sometimes you get dropped, those guys, all of a sudden, that might not have taken the fight before might decide they wanna take the fight. Hamzah Sheeraz, particularly Jaime Munguia.”

Pacheco (25-0, 18 KOs) and Hearn both said that Mexico’s Munguia (45-2, 35 KOs) is their preferred opponent for Pacheco’s first fight of 2026. Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and owner of The Ring, has expressed interest in matching Pacheco against England’s Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) on a Riyadh Season show in February.

Whichever opponent Pacheco encounters next, Hearn acknowledged he’ll need to be better than he was in defeating Sadjo (26-1, 23 KOs). Matchroom Boxing’s chairman also believes The Ring’s fifth-ranked super middleweight will apply what he learned during his third 12-round, unanimous-decision win of this year against top opponents in his division.

“You know what? So many boxes ticked [Saturday night],” Hearn said regarding Pacheco’s performance. “He’s 24 years old. Nobody wants to fight Kevin Sadjo. He’s a nightmare. You saw that. He got dropped, come back, nearly stopped Sadjo at the back end of the fight. He’ll learn so much from that. I think he can be better, think he knows that. But sometimes you’ve gotta have nights at the office like that, where you come through the other side.

“And a lesser fighter, a lesser man, with lesser heart, lesser ability, would’ve got beat tonight. But at 24 years of age, I think this guy solidified himself as one of the future [stars] of the 168-pound division. He’s right, he needs that big fight now, because he’s ticked all the boxes. You know, Steve Nelson, Trevor McCumby, Kevin Sadjo. Where else do you go?”