Jake Paul has been backed to "destroy" UFC legend Nate Diaz in their upcoming boxing fight.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul looks to bounce back to winning ways after his first boxing defeat when he takes on Diaz on August 5. Bookies have Paul as a considerable favourite to win the fight as Diaz makes his ring debut on the night. UFC welterweight Randy Brown believes Paul's skills are discredited by many fans because of his YouTuber background and he thinks Diaz will be easily beaten.
“I think [Diaz] gets destroyed in a boxing match. Jake Paul is a boxer by this point," Brown told Inside Fighting. "We have to give credit where credit is due and he’s a boxer. He might not be an extremely high-level boxer but at this point, he’s boxing primarily. That’s where he spends most of his time whereas a lot of MMA fighters, we have to split our time between so many different things,
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During his 15-year tenure in the UFC, Diaz was known for his boxing and jiu-jitsu skills. The 38-year-old out-landed Conor McGregor in their first fight before eventually tapping him out, with the Irishman avenging the defeat in their rematch later that year. Brown explained why he thinks Diaz's boxing skills in MMA won't carry over to the ring.
“I think Nate Diaz doesn’t have great boxing, I think he has great elements of boxing, I think there’s things that he incorporates well from boxing in his game and he has great drop punches because he carries his hands very high so there’s no tell and then he just drops them on you," he added.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn echoed Brown's words as he thinks Paul will knockout the UFC legend inside four rounds. Hearn was not impressed by a recent clip of Diaz hitting pads, with many fans also expressing their concern for the 38-year-old after the clip surfaced online.
“I watched clips of Nate Diaz hit pads and I was like [shocked],” Hearn said on The MMA Hour. "You know that it’s going to be a mismatch against Jake Paul. It won't go four [rounds] unless it's all a bit of a bluff from Nate with what I saw. When you see people hit pads, you just know. I love Nate Diaz, I’ve only met him a couple times, what a gent, but for it to be a mismatch against Jake Paul?"
