Boxing Challenge: Pacheco knocks out Coceres,Heaney upsets Bentley

    Saturday night in Los Angeles, super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco overcame a difficult task in veteran Marcelo Coceres when Pacheco delivered a highlight knockout in the ninth round.

Coceres had success in the middle rounds, especially in the fifth round when he stunned Pacheco with a series of hooks but Pacheco gradually took back control of the fight and had a strong eighth round before finishing the fight in the ninth with an uppercut that chopped Coceres down with the Argentine taking the full count.

Pacheco called out Edgar Berlanga after the fight and while both fighters work with Matchroom, I'd be dubious of Berlanga accepting that fight when he could have a higher profile and payday against Jaime Munguia with a better chance of winning.

Pacheco looks like a future champion but he may not receive that opportunity for quite a while.

Earlier Saturday in Manchester, England on ESPN+, a minor upset for the British middleweight title occurred as Nathan Heaney won a majority decision over Denzel Bentley.

The title isn't as important as the shakeup in the world ratings as Bentley was rated highly after his strong effort against WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Heaney built a lead on the scorecards as Bentley relied on single punches that didn't damage the underdog as much as expected.

Bentley did make a late charge with Heaney tiring badly in the final rounds but the deficit was too great to overcome with Heaney winning by scores of 117-11, 116-113, and 114-114.

I scored Heaney the winner at 115-113 and with Bentley being rated in the WBO's top ten with Top Rank's working relationship with Frank Warren (Heaney's promoter), I could see an Alimkhanuly challenge for Heaney sometime next year.

In the co-feature, Nick Ball dominated former junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe to win a unanimous decision in a WBC featherweight eliminator.

Ball was the more physical and larger fighter to bully Dogboe in forcing Dogboe to give way, which isn't Dogboe's style and despite trying hard and having his moments, Ball was the clear victor by scores of 119-108, 118-109, and a surprisingly close 116-111.

I scored Ball the winner at 118-109.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 174 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 157 Pts (3)
Vince Samano:  115 Pts (3)