Diego Pacheco is ranked above Jacob Bank, but Bank is negotiating the vacant WBO super middleweight title fight with Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. Pacheco has a November 14 date with Darius Fulghum instead. We do not know if Pacheco was offered the Alimkhanuly fight or would have taken it. We do know his next fight has left Bank holding the opportunity.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri called Bank the “first AVAILABLE contender” in his announcement on X. The sides have 15 days to make a deal before a purse bid is ordered. Olivieri gave no reason for passing over No. 2 Pacheco.
One missed chance can be explained. A second gets harder. Pacheco withdrew from negotiations for a vacant WBO title fight with Hamzah Sheeraz earlier this year. The circumstances of that decision deserve their own consideration, but the result is familiar: another contender is pursuing the belt while Pacheco heads toward a different opponent.
From Matchroom’s side, Fulghum is an understandable choice. Pacheco keeps his scheduled headline date and gets a useful fight without immediately taking on Alimkhanuly’s southpaw timing and power. That may serve his career. It does less for the claim that he is ready to rule at 168 pounds.
Bank has accepted the harder route. He criticized the WBO for advancing Alimkhanuly after his doping suspension, and now he gets a chance to beat the fighter whose ranking bothered him. Bank may find out quickly how wide the experience gap is. At least he will find out in a world title fight.
Pacheco could still become champion. He could also beat Fulghum impressively and remain a leading contender. But rankings do not reserve title opportunities indefinitely. If Bank wins, he will have the belt and every reason to seek the most valuable fight available. Pacheco would then have to wait for another opening he once seemed positioned to take.
That is the sting of this order. Nobody has established that Pacheco refused Alimkhanuly. He does not need to have refused for missing this chance to count.
