MCGIRT: WE HAVEN’T SCRATCHED THE SURFACE OF PACHECO’S TALENT
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Jul 2026
Buddy McGirt believes his new charge Diego Pacheco has yet to scratch the surface of the talent and skills at his disposal, as they begin their new partnership this Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California against Immanuwel Aleem, live worldwide on DAZN.
Pacheco (25-0 18 KOs) defends his WBC Silver and WBO International Super-Middleweight titles and holds lofty positions in all the governing bodies - #3 WBO, #4 WBC and IBF, #7 WBA. The LA star penned a new deal with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom recently and the 25 year old fights at the esteemed California coliseum known as the War Grounds for the second time, having previously KO’d Maciej Sulecki there in 2024.
Aleem (22-4-3 14 KOs) will be looking to crash into the top-end of the rankings with the biggest win of his career and bounce back from defeat in his last outing in March, a distance reversal against Lester Martinez for the interim WBC World title.
McGirt has trained some or the biggest names in the sport and after completing his first camp with Pacheco, the former two-weight World champion and Hall of Famer thinks he has levels and gears to go through as he steps up his pursuit of World title fights at 168lbs.
“I don't believe he's scratched the surface yet with his talent, he hasn't used all of the talent that he has,” said McGirt. “He's got by doing just what he's been doing, but the key is to make him better, to make the fights much easier. He has a talent to make fights much easier than rather making them hard. If you scratch the surface and bring the best out and the tools that he has that he doesn't use, and have him get confidence in it, it makes it so much easier.
“On Saturday, I expect him to be Diego, but at the same time, I expect him to do a few of the things you worked on, not everything, because you can't expect that the first fight out, but if he does one or two of the things that we worked on, it'll be a very successful night.
“First, you two got to click. Then you got to see what makes him tick and what doesn’t. This young man has a lot of talent. He's got a long way to go and a lot to offer and a lot to give.
“There's things that he can do that I don't think he knows he can do yet. Things that I see that he has the ability to do. The key is not to throw everything at him at once.
“He's a young man that's willing to learn. A lot of fighters, you say something to them, they always got an answer, like “Yeah, I know, but.” Well, if you know, then if you know, you don't need me. If I say something to him or show him something, he'll try and do it and bam. And then when he makes a mistake before I can correct him, he says, "I messed up.”
“I felt like like we needed someone who's been at that that high level, who's been a World champion, who's been in the corner of a lot of World championship fights,” said Pacheco. “I feel Buddy was was a perfect guy.
“In the past, I feel like I've had coaches who who just let stuff slide because of my height and the things I can do, they they they thought I could get away with certain things. Buddy's a real old school fighter who, you know, everything has to be on point.
“Everything has to be a certain way. And I love his boxing IQ. I love the way he likes to to stick to the jab. I feel like that's just what I needed to get to that next level.
“This is my first camp with Buddy. We've been doing a lot of a lot of learning, fixing little stuff that wasn't really fixed in the past. There's a lot of stuff that Buddy wanted me to work on that at first was a little awkward for me because it was new, but after getting it down and getting comfortable with with everything, I feel really good and sharp.”
FIGHT WEEK SCHEDULE (all times local)
Thursday July 16 - final press conference - live from 1pm on Matchroom’s YouTube channel
Friday July 17 - Andy Ruiz vs. Damian Knyba launch press conference and public weigh-in - Ovation Square, 350 Pine Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802, live from 4pm on Matchroom’s YouTube channel
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