{"id":688354,"date":"2026-07-12T23:15:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688354\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T23:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:15:06","slug":"diego-pacheco-debuts-with-buddy-mcgirt-as-andy-cruz-opponent-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688354\/","title":{"rendered":"Diego Pacheco Debuts With Buddy McGirt As Andy Cruz Opponent Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The Matchroom Boxing card streams <a class=\"thirstylink\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"DAZN Boxing\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boxing247.com\/go\/dazn-boxing\" data-shortcode=\"true\">live on DAZN<\/a> this Saturday, July 18, from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. In the co-feature, lightweight contender Andy Cruz will face late replacement Abraham Montoya (24-7-1, 14 KOs)) after Albert Bell withdrew to accept a world title shot against WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz, who many fans believed did enough to defeat IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla before dropping a disputed 12-round majority decision last January, had been scheduled to meet Bell in what was widely viewed as a more compelling matchup. Bell\u2019s withdrawal forced Matchroom to find a replacement on short notice, with Montoya getting the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Pacheco (25-0, 18 KOs) enters the fight looking to continue his rise toward a world title shot while beginning his partnership with McGirt, one of boxing\u2019s most accomplished trainers. Aleem (22-4-3, 14 KOs) is an experienced veteran who has shared the ring with several respected contenders and will look to derail Pacheco\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz (6-1, 3 KOs), a two-time Olympic gold medalist, remains one of boxing\u2019s most highly regarded lightweight contenders despite the controversial loss to Muratalla. A victory over Bell would have strengthened his case for another title opportunity, but Bell\u2019s decision to pursue a championship fight changed those plans.<\/p>\n<p>The opponent switch drew criticism from some fans on social media, with many describing the revised matchup as a mismatch and expressing disappointment that Cruz would no longer face Bell. Others questioned the overall strength of the doubleheader.<\/p>\n<p>However, the change was not Cruz\u2019s doing. Bell withdrew after landing a title shot against Mason, leaving Matchroom to secure an available replacement rather than remove Cruz from the card. While Montoya may not generate the same interest as Bell, Cruz can still make a statement with an impressive performance and move himself closer to another lightweight title opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Matchroom Boxing card streams live on DAZN this Saturday, July 18, from Dignity Health Sports Park in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-688354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688354","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=688354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}