Darius Fulghum on The Diego Pacheco Fight: ‘This is my Rebirth; This is my Second Chance’

Boxing is like a game of snakes and ladders. One wrong move and you topple down the ladder rungs back to square one. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, fighters need to rebuild and flourish once more. After a torturous 2025, Darius Fulghum (15-1-1, 13 KOs) has found himself back on track in 2026 as he prepares to face the undefeated Diego Pacheco (26-0, 19 KOs) on November 14 and is ready to show the world Fulghum 2.0.

“This is my rebirth; this is my second chance,” Fulghum told FightsATW. “We don’t get that often. Diego Pacheco is right on the cusp of being a world champion but has to get past one final test. This is a test for both of us. So you’ve got two wills colliding, two young, hungry American super middleweights. This is a recipe for a good fight when two people’s dreams are on the line. So I hope the fans are really tuned in for this one because I think it’s going to be something special.”

Fulghum feels “blessed” to be in a position to face Pacheco, but not “shocked”, after his disastrous 2025. The 30-year-old lost to Bektemir Melikuziev and followed it up with an unflattering draw against David Stevens. So far in 2026, Fulghum has returned to winning ways, defeating Yoanki Urrutia in May. Now he has a major opportunity against the highly-rated Pacheco.

“Golden Boy Promotions, I think they truly do believe in me. I think they know what I’ve got, and they’ve been pushing for me to get another opportunity to get myself right back into position because I think they see the potential. So I don’t feel like shocked is the word, but I do feel like I am blessed that I’ve been surrounded by people that help put me in a position to achieve my dreams.”

Fulghum views Saturday’s fight as his second chance. An opportunity to grasp with both gloves. He concedes he is surprised Pacheco hasn’t fought for a world title yet and questions whether that’s because of the belief in Pacheco.

“Diego’s right there in position for a world title,” said Fulghum. “Realistically, he should have already fought for a world title. Unfortunately for Diego, one thing I learned about life is that opportunities come few and far between. When they come, you’ve got to take advantage of them, and you’ve got to seize them. That’s what preparation really is.

“Diego’s had the opportunity, I think, twice to fight for a world title, and he didn’t take it. And unfortunately for Diego, that opportunity may never come up again, because I’m planning on winning on the 14th, and I get to see this as my chance to put myself right back in contention, because sometimes we don’t get second chances. I’m getting a second chance right now and I don’t take that for granted. I’m lucky. I’m very blessed that I’m getting the opportunity. He may not get another one.

“Eddie Hearn said after his last fight, after he had stopped Immanuwel Aleem, ‘Just one more. He just needs another one before they go for the world title.’ If they’re confident, they would’ve already pushed him to fight for that. So it may not be Diego; it could be his team, who knows? I’ll be honest, I don’t really know. But definitely somebody in the circle doesn’t have enough belief to go and push for the world title because Matchroom obviously wants world champions for sure. For sure, his team obviously wants to have a world champion, and they’ve got to make sure they play their cards right. For this one, again, as I said before, I do feel like they played their cards wrong choosing me.

Fulghum continued, “I feel like Armando Resendiz is a style-wise match-up and a much better opponent for Diego for the storyline. Resendiz just had the world title, just lost to Jaime Munguia. They’re trying to fight Munguia. It just made the most sense. So I do think they made the mistake by going with me and I’m ready to crash their whole plans because I care about my plans a lot more. I want to be a world champion too. One thing that I’ve learned about this and learned from my family growing up is fear. I think it’s the biggest inhibitor of success, and I don’t think there’s any room for fear in this game.”

It’s not uncommon for fighters to trash talk as they prepare their bodies for battle. In fact, it’s almost rare nowadays to see respect between foes before a fight. Fulghum, however, isn’t one to disrespects or talk down to his opponent.

“I think Diego is a good fighter. I truly do. I think he’s a great talent. I think he’s been through the fire with a lot of guys, and he showed out. He’s performing. He deserves to be exactly where he is at. Regardless of how I think of Diego, I always say this: I respect Diego a lot, but I respect myself a lot more. So I feel about what Diego’s accomplished, how great of a fighter he is, but I do believe that I am better.”

Fulghum is an educated fighter. School and college were important to him. Having a plan for when he hangs up his gloves is sensible, but Fulghum simply cannot look to the future.

“I’m going to tell you something. I don’t know what I’m doing November 15. All I know is that the only thing in my mind right now is November 14. I have no idea about the future. I’m not even really going to be worried about it. The most important thing to me is this fight right now. So looking past that, never, I can’t. I don’t even have any idea. So to me, it’s pointless to think about that when this is my main goal right now. So could be, who knows?”

Achieving a degree in nursing gives him options once he retires, but for now he’s getting the benefits of his education as a boxer.

“I think a lot of stuff in life translates. Nursing to me is still one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. And honestly, I was trying to juggle both that and boxing at the same time. So what I mean by everything translates, the same kind of work ethic, drive, all that stuff goes in the same hand in hand. The dedication I had to complete that is the same dedication I had to go in day in, day out. The sacrifice I had to make for that is the same sacrifice I got to make for this.

“In terms of the health side, on the nutrition side, I have learned a lot on how to decipher information because nutrition is the most heavily understudied topic out there, especially for proper nutrition for fight performance. There are a lot of people who say that you need to be on this sort of diet, a carnivore diet; you need to be on a keto diet; you need to be eating this amount of carbs. There’s a lot of information out there saying contradicting stuff.

“So one thing I will say, I feel like my degree has helped me decipher information that is beneficial for my body to help me perform for fight night. I actually think I got the easiest weight cuts, honestly, and I don’t have to fork out thousands and thousands of dollars to nutritionists to do that. I kind of got that under control and understand my body. So shout out to PV Nursing School education for that.”

Fulghum will enter the ring against Pacheco as the underdog. Relieved of pressure and filled with confidence, but for him, this is just another day at the office.

“This fight’s big, but this fight isn’t bigger than any other fight that I’ve had. It sounds very weird to say, but I’m saying this in the sense that every fight matters so much. My debut fight matters so much. Without winning that, I wouldn’t be here. Without winning my second fight, I wouldn’t be here. Every fight matters so, so much to get to this point. This fight matters just the same.

“My preparations for this have been, I will say, I think it’s been the best that I’ve had. I’m making sure I’ve left no stone unturned. I’ve put my literal ounce of everything into this, physically and mentally.”

James Lupton

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