Any time Jake Paul tries his hands at boxing, the entertainment value has a chance to run high.
Nate Diaz being booked usually signals a blood-and-guts fight.
The combination of the two should bode especially true August 5 in Dallas, Texas, where Paul will fight Nate Diaz, live on DAZN and DAZN pay-per-view.
Paul is coming off his first boxing loss — a split-decision defeat to Tommy Fury in February. Diaz is a noted MMA fighter, who was a former sparring partner for boxing legend Andre Ward.
With the bragging-rights stakes soaring high, DAZN weighs the keys to victory for each fighter.
Nate Diaz's keys to victory
Cramp Paul's style in the pocket
We know Paul loves to load up and throw that chopping overhand right. Well, one way that Diaz can negate that vaunted weapon is by crowding Paul’s space and locking himself in the phone booth with him. Getting into cramped quarters will also allow Diaz to punch in the clinch and rough Paul up with some dirty boxing.
Set up that lasering left hook
Go back and look at the final round of Nate Diaz’s clash with Leon Edwards from June 2021. Edwards won the fight by unanimous decision, but boy did Diaz make it interesting in the fifth round.
He lulled Edwards in and tapped his jaw with the “Stockton Slap” before lasering a left hook that put “Rocky” on wobbly legs. Who’s to say that Diaz can’t use the same setup against Jake Paul?
The YouTuber/boxer doesn’t show a consistent guard — if he demonstrates one at all. That seemingly alone makes him ripe for the picking for Diaz, a southpaw, to shock him with a damaging left hook.
Dirty up the fight, punch in traffic
This key is an extension of Diaz closing in on Paul’s space and punching in the clinch. But it could also be done by Diaz pushing off on Paul, using that “Stockton Slap” and perhaps most importantly, punching Paul in traffic.
Doing the latter would be the ultimate middle finger to Paul as a message that Diaz doesn’t respect his power. As long as striking in traffic is done in spurts at opportune times, Diaz could use it to continuously throw Paul off and maybe even win this fight.
Jake Paul's keys to victory
Keep a disciplined guard
Over far too many sequences against Tommy Fury, Paul’s guard was nonexistent as his hands roamed by his waist, either looking to assert his offense or being prone to incoming punches.
That bout resulted in a split-decision loss for Paul and we’ll see early into this fight with Diaz if he addresses this by showing a high, tight and disciplined guard that he doesn’t waver from.
Make early commitments to the body
Diaz is going to stand up and bang. It’s what he’s done over the course of his career. He’s simply going to fight.
The way to wilt a true fighter like Diaz is by attacking the body. Therefore, Paul’s commitment to the body and those early deposits will go long ways to soften the warrior up for a possible knockout blow.
Time and unload that chopping overhand right
It’s the weapon that Jake Paul loves detonating best. If he can time it against a notoriously-upright Nate Diaz, he has a great chance to do major damage en-route to having his hand raised.