{"id":401568,"date":"2026-02-01T01:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T01:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401568\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T01:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T01:46:11","slug":"diego-pacheco-pulls-out-of-wbo-title-fight-with-hamzah-sheeraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401568\/","title":{"rendered":"Diego Pacheco pulls out of WBO title fight with Hamzah Sheeraz"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what\u2019s become a disturbingly common thread, Diego Pacheco has pulled out of his vacant WBO title fight with Hamzah Sheeraz on the cusp of the purse bid.<\/p>\n

Jake Donovan reports<\/a> that Pacheco (25-0, 18 KO) backed out \u201cto get better acclimated to his new management team and trainer,\u201d which doesn\u2019t explain why he strung Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KO) along instead of just declining the invitation to negotiate. It\u2019s uncomfortably reminiscent of the way Josh Taylor let various mandatory obligations hit their deadlines instead of just vacating the belts and letting the division keep moving.<\/p>\n

The question now is how the WBO intends to proceed; president Gustavo Olivieri said an announcement would be made \u201cin due course,\u201d but that can\u2019t stop us from speculating. No. 1 Canelo Alvarez is out until September, taking him off the table, and no. 4 Jacob Bank has a date with William Scull tomorrow. While Sheeraz-Bank could be the play if Bank comes out victorious, the WBO also hasn\u2019t updated their rankings in over a month, so they could slot in an unexpected challenger.<\/p>\n

As for Pacheco, it\u2019s yet another self-inflicted wound from someone who once ranked among Matchroom\u2019s favorite prospects. He\u2019s gone the distance three times in a row, whelming at best in the process, and doesn\u2019t seem nearly as sharp as he did when under the tutelage of Jose Benavidez Sr. This was a massive opportunity as the division looks to establish a new normal and he blew it in the most aggravating way possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what\u2019s become a disturbingly common thread, Diego Pacheco has pulled out of his vacant WBO title fight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-401568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}