Tomorrow night, we are going to see a big time boxing event which features one of the biggest stars in all of MMA. MMA superstar Nate Diaz (21-13) makes the jump over to boxing as he takes on “The Problem Child” Jake Paul (6-1).
This was a bout that was teased for a long time but only materialized after Nate Diaz officially got out of his UFC contract last year. Diaz now has his own brand and the matchup with Paul came together. However, the fight did lose a little steam after Jake Paul suffered his first loss.
Jake Paul was on a roll at 6-0. He knocked out Tyron Woodley and then he defeated the legend Anderson Silva. However, there were still people who were saying he was ducking a real boxing challenge. So, Paul decided to take on Tommy Fury in a highly anticipated matchup.
Fury outboxed Paul for most of the matchup. However, Paul did drop Fury in the final round which made the score close. However, in the end it wasn’t enough and Paul lost. Had Paul still been undefeated, this matchup with Diaz would’ve been even bigger. That said, it’s still expected to do well on PPV with Diaz’s involvement.
Boxing Prediction
The general thought here is that if the fight ends in knockout, Paul wins. If the fight is a war where both guys have to dig down deep, Diaz wins. If one fighter gets tired and overwhelmed, it’s going to be Jake Paul. Jake Paul said recently he might need to weather a storm before knocking Diaz out.
However, if there’s going to be a storm, it’s going to come late as Diaz normally starts out slow before picking up the pace. This boxing match was originally scheduled for eight rounds, but after Diaz requested it be moved to ten, Paul agreed and the match was set for ten.
That’s a big advantage for Diaz. To me, Jake Paul will either win by knockout or by points because of Diaz’s inactivity. If Diaz isn’t aggressive enough, I could see Paul just winning based on activity alone. However, I think you’re going to see a real turning point in this matchup after the fifth round.
Diaz will start walking down Paul in the later rounds. Expect him to really work the body and make this a dog fight. I don’t think Jake Paul has that dog in him to win this one. While Paul has more professional boxing experience, I don’t think he has the war experience and Nate Diaz is going to take him to war.
Prediction: Nate Diaz by TKO – Round 9