Jake Paul (7-1, 4 KOs) beat former UFC fighter Nate Diaz (0-1) by a lopsided ten round unanimous decision in a sloppy but entertaining cruiserweight fight on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Nate was down in round five from a left hand from Paul but never in serious trouble. If this fight was scored under amateur rules, it would have been a lot closer because Diaz landed a lot of light, tapping punches in the second half, but Paul’s shots were more meaningful.
The real problem Nate had was a lack of power, slapping punches, and glacially slow hand speed. He didn’t look well-trained for the bout and was doing a lot of slapping & clinching.
The scores: 97-92, 98-91 and 98-91.
Updates & results of tonight’s boxing action will be shown below.
– Unified female featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (45-2-1, 30 KO) toyed with the 41-year-old Heather Hardy (24-2, 4 KO), seeming to carry the badly overmatched foe en route to winning a one-sided ten round unanimous decision in a hard-to-watch rematch. Heather didn’t have the power or hand speed to make it competitive.
Hardy’s face looked like a bloody mess by the end of the fight, as Serrano had hit her with everything but the kitchen sink.
One gets the sense that Serrano could have easily knocked Hardy out if she’d wanted but kept her around like a cat playing with its food. The scores were 99-91, 100-90, and 100-90.
Given how one-sided Serrano’s win over Hardly in their first fight in 2019, it didn’t make sense for them to have a rematch other than for monetary purposes.
– In another fight involving prospects, super middleweight Chris Avila (4-1) outboxed a game but flawed Jeremy Stephens (0-1-1), winning a six round unanimous decision. The judges scored it 59-55, 59-55, and 60-54.
– Talented lightweight knockout artist/prospect Ashton “H2O” Sylve (10-0, 9 KOs) destroyed lanky 6’1″ veteran William Silva (30-5, 18 KOs) by a fourth round knockout. The 19-year-old Sylve dropped Silva twice in the contest, once in round two and a final time in the fourth. The referee halted it at 2:59.
The body work paid off for @AshtonSylveH2o 😬 #PaulDiaz pic.twitter.com/4tTPcjeikY
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) August 6, 2023
– Unbeaten super middleweight female Shadasia Green (13-0, 11 KOs) easily beat Olivia Curry (7-2, 2 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision. The judges scored it 99-91, 100-90, and 100-89.
Green landed some massive shots in the fight, but Curry took all she could dish out and fought well. She didn’t have the needed power to give Green a run for her money.
– Welterweight journeyman Alan Sanchez (23-5-1, 10 KOs) defeated Angel Beltran (17-2, 10 KOs) by a competitive eight round unanimous decision. It was a back & fourth type of contest, but Sanchez, the more experienced fighter of the two, landed the harder shots to impress the judges. The scores: 77-75, 78-74, and 79-73.
Cruiserweight Jake Paul will be using former UFC star Nate Diaz as a stepping stone opponent in a ten round fight at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Diaz is making his pro debut at 38 and has his work cut out for him tonight against Jake, who is 100% committed to boxing and vows to take his head off.
The Jake-Diaz event will be shown live on DAZN PPV, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. The time of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight is expected to be after 10:00 p.m. ET.
Jake Paul: I’m taking his head off
“It’s my life, and this camp was nonstop. We’re waking up at the track, running 800 meters, 400 meters, 200, 200, 800, 400, 200, 200, 200, sparring, sprinting, all types of workouts,” said Jake Paul to Stephen A. Smith’s Youtube channel.
“This is my life, and it’s really all I do. That and promote the fight, and those are the two things, and I think people get confused by me promoting the fight,” Jake continued. They think I’m just messing around by making these skits and having fun, and they think I’m not going to come in and take this guy’s head off. I’m going to.
“He’s a wannabe gangster, he’s been disrespectful, he’s been unprofessional, and I’m a very nice guy, but as soon as the bell rings, I’m ripping his head off.
“Yeah, the taste of defeat is terrible. It’s one of the hardest things to go through, but it can create something amazing, and that’s exactly what it did for me,” Paul said, reflecting on his thoughts on his recent loss to Tommy Fury.
“I never wanted to taste that again, and so it put me onto this path of being more committed, bringing around a better team, doubling down on this sport. I was going through a lot of things leading up to that fight and didn’t prepare properly, and it showed in the ring,” said Paul.
Nate Diaz = Stepping stone
“I said to myself, I’m never going to let that happen again, and now I feel like this loss has set me on this path that I was supposed to be on before,” said Jake. “But, yeah, it’s a tough feeling, but again, that’s what I want to show kids.
“You can lose the biggest stage possible and turn it into a W. Two L’s make a W. I was going through things outside the gym like a break-up, like mentally, like getting sick, not being on point, and trying to jam-pack a camp in six, seven weeks.
“I basically started a camp seven weeks before the [Tommy Fury] fight, and there’s just not enough time for someone at my level to prepare. I get to Dubai. There’s dust in the air that I’m apparently allergic to, so I’m sick for like another Ten days.
“Just going just everything that could have went wrong in this fight in that fight went wrong. I’m not sitting here to make excuses. I lost. I was the one who chose to get into the ring and put everything out on the line, and no one’s going to remember the excuses I make or whatever.
“I lost fair and square, but I’m going to come back stronger, and eventually, I want to go back after Tommy Fury.
“Yeah, the plan leading up to Tommy Fury was always a fight Nate Diaz after because he’s obviously a free agent from the UFC. I think his plan is to go back to the UFC.
“So the time to fight him is now, and the Tommy Fury discussion is still in the works, and I know I’m going to go back and get that W. He barely beat me at my absolute worst. I put him on the canvas, and so it’s just a necessity for us to run that back.
“I know that when I’m going into the ring feeling at my best, I’m going to absolutely destroy him,” said Jake about his intention of avenging his loss to Tommy Fury.