Former UFC star Nate Diaz has been slammed by one of his sparring partners ahead of his boxing debut against Jake Paul.
Diaz, 38, bowed out of his 27-fight run in the UFC with a submission victory over Tony Ferguson in September. Making his UFC debut in 2007, Diaz steadily built a loyal fan base, which was emphasised through his two-fight series with Conor McGregor, and is now set to step into the boxing ring in August.
The UFC veteran was announced as Paul’s next opponent as the YouTube boxer looks to bounce back from his defeat to Tommy Fury in February. Diaz is making the step up to cruiserweight (200 lbs), having previously competed at 155-170 lbs in his MMA career, but his training has been called into question by Esquiva Falcao, who sparred with Diaz at Robert Garcia’s gym.
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The undefeated middleweight (30-0) is set to compete for the IBF world title and posed with Diaz after a training session on social media. The Olympic silver medalist said that Diaz did a “good job” in 12 rounds of sparring but delved deeper into his boxing skills in a video on Instagram.
“At first I thought he was tired, and in the end it looked like he was dying,” Falcao said. “His fighting style is crazy. You look at him and say, ‘Oh, he’s tired,’ and then we started sparring. (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.’”
“I held back and kept boxing, and we did 12 rounds,” Falcao continued. “He was tired, but taking punches and throwing, too. (He) is bad, (he) is bad, but since he’s too heavy - he’s overweight, 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.”
Diaz is set to take on Paul in a pay-per-view event in Dallas,Texas. The bout will be joined by undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano’s world title defence against Heather Hardy.
