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Former UFC superstar Nate Diaz will make his professional boxing debut against Jake Paul in about a month a half. And based on a recent video of him hitting the pads during training, many aren’t liking his chances.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is one of those many skeptics based on the said clip. He also shared his prediction for the fight in a recent guest appearance on The MMA Hour.
Boxing promoter sees a ‘mismatch’
Early odds for the bout have Paul as -300 favorite against +240 underdog that is Diaz. Hearn likewise sees the bout as a mismatch in favor of “The Problem Child.”
“You know it’s gonna be a mismatch against Jake Paul, don’t you?” Hearn asked host Ariel Helwani. “I know you love Nate Diaz, and love him. Listen, I’ve only met him a couple of times. What a gent.
“But, for it to be a mismatch against Jake Paul…”
Helwani then threw a follow-up question: ‘You think (Nate Diaz) is getting smoked?’
Hearn gave a straight answer along with a prediction for the ten-round bout.
“Yes. It won’t go four.”
Retired undefeated boxing champion pulling for Nate Diaz
But for someone like retired undefeated champion Andre Ward, the 38-year-old Stockton-based fighter shouldn’t be judged based on a few seconds of training videos. Ward was also a past training partner of both Nick and Nate, and he had this to say about the criticisms towards the younger Diaz.
“People look at that mitt session that they had and they just misread the play, man,” Ward said. “[Because] those types of shots, they don’t look pretty, but they keep coming.
“They keep coming from different angles and he’s got some miles on him. He’s been around a long time.”
An update on Nate Diaz’s boxing training camp
More concerns about Diaz’s training camp for the upcoming boxing match with Jake Paul continue to surface after a recent statement by one of his sparring partners. Brazilian Olympic medalist Esquiva Falcao went 12 rounds with Nate and claimed that the UFC veteran was ‘dying’ towards the end of the session.
“Because his fighting style is a crazy one. When you look at him, you go: ‘He’s tired already’, then we started sparring and in the second round Robert (Falcao’s coach) told me that he was already tired. So he told me to take it easy, keep it steady so he can go for at least 10 rounds.
“I took it down a notch and we were just boxing, you know? We ended up going for 12 rounds, even though he was tired. He was landing shots and eating a lot of shots, too. It’s bad. He is heavy now, he’s overweight. He must weigh about 220 pounds now or more.”
But Diaz’s long time training partner Chris Avila was quick to dispel Falcao’s statements.
“So Nate sparred this guy, did 12 rounds. Bro, he got f–d up. He lost every round, then afterward he immediately goes to the coach, ‘Oh, I’m cutting weight, that’s why I didn’t look too good.’
“And then you see on his [Instagram] story, it’s in Portuguese so we had somebody translate — and he was talking shit.”
The Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight card
Billed as ‘Ready 4 War,’ the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz boxing event takes place on August 5th at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Right before the headliner is a ten-round featherweight title fight between champion Amanda Serrano and Heather Hardy.
Also on the card is Chris Avila, who takes on UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens.
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