Nate Diaz is set to fight Jake Paul at American Airlines Arena on August 5. The 10-round boxing match will be Diaz's professional boxing debut and his first fight since his UFC contract expired in September 2022. For Paul, the fight is a chance to avenge his loss to Tommy Fury, as well as potentially grant him the leverage to challenge Conor McGregor.
There has been a lot of drama in the build-up to this fight. Diaz, who has absolutely no love for Paul, is looking to silence "The Problem Child". However, Diaz has also tried to have the fight relocated out of Texas due to his THC prescription. Furthermore, recent bravado from Diaz saw Paul call his bluff and agree to a 12-round fight if Diaz really wanted one. Now reports are emerging about how Diaz is faring in training.
Sparring Partner Roasts Diaz
On June 15, Diaz sparred with Esquiva Falcão. Falcão is an Olympic silver medalist middleweight boxer who is 30-0 in his nine-year career. He is preparing for his first title fight on July 1, when he faces Vincenzo Gualtieri in Germany for the IBF middleweight title. Falcão's review of Diaz's boxing skill was far from glowing. “At first I thought he was tired, and in the end it looked like he was dying. His fighting style is cr*zy. You look at him and say, ‘Oh, he’s tired,’ and then we started sparring. [Coach] Robert [Garcia] told me in the second round, ‘He’s tired already, hold back a little bit and keep the rhythm so he does at least 10 rounds.’”
He continued. “I held back and kept boxing, and we did 12 rounds,” Falcao said of the sparring session. “He was tired, but taking punches and throwing, too. [He] is bad, [he] is bad, but since he’s too heavy — he’s overw*ight, probably around 220 pounds or more — and I’m the only big guy in the gym, I had to do it. But I liked doing it.” Definitely not a great review for someone a month and a half away from his professional boxing debut. However, as Falcão noted, Diaz's performance might be a result of him weighing in at 35 pounds above fight weight. Despite this, it sounds like the MMA legend has a lot to do before he faces Paul in the ring.
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