Anyone counting Nate Diaz out of his boxing bout against Jake Paul on August 5, live on DAZN pay-per-view, might need to be reminded of his past experience with the sweet science.
That’s what longtime MMA coach Javier Mendez broached in an interview with DAZN recently.
“Some people may think that Jake Paul is too big and too this for him — and that could be correct — but people thinking Nate Diaz can’t box are going to be in for a rude awakening,” Mendez told DAZN.
“Since I’ve been in the fight game, Nate Diaz — he and his brother Nick — used to be main sparring partners for Andre Ward. You know anything about boxing, you know how great Andre Ward is.”
Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) as in the retired, undefeated two-division world champion, having held the unified super middleweight championship and unified light heavyweight crown, not to mention an Olympic gold medalist from 2004. That Andre Ward.
“And Nate and Nick were sparring partners of his for one reason — they were good enough,” Mendez continued.
“[Nate Diaz’] boxing is good enough. It’s not like Nate is going to go in there and say ‘I’m out of my league.’ He’s been boxing against one of the greatest of all time. Andre Ward has never lost in the Olympics, never lost in the professional, retired — the guy is spotless. And he’s sparring with Nate Diaz way back in the day a long time ago.”
He added: “Boxing is what he uses more than anything in MMA. If Jake does not finish him, hurt him, the later rounds are dominated by Nate Diaz — hands down.”
Mendez’ words come a month after Ward himself told Ariel Helwani that he “wouldn’t be shocked at all” if Diaz defeated Paul in their boxing bout next month, adding that Diaz has reached out to him in regards to preparation for the fight.