Jake Paul faces the fourth MMA star of his fledgling fighting career – this time welcoming UFC legend, Nate Diaz, into the boxing ring.
Paul’s green campaign hit a speed bump with a loss to Tommy Fury – the first established boxer he had come up against – earlier this year.
To get back to winning ways and with an eye on a rematch in the future, the 26-year-old is returning to what he knows.
Atlas has a keen involvement in both boxing and MMA, and is well-placed to predict these crossover bouts. He broke down the fight on his podcast, first listing the attributes Diaz brings to the table in the scrap.
“Diaz, he can strike. He’s a tough guy. But again, he’s not hard to hit. The old timers would say in some of his fights he gets insulted if you miss him.
He’s got a chin of granite, he’s got a hear of five lions, we know all that. But again, he’s now – as crazy as this sounds [when] he’s the guy with the history of fighting – he’s now in Jake Paul’s theatre.”
Regardless of that, Atlas is backing YouTuber-turned-fighter, Paul, to beat Diaz on his pro boxing debut.
“Jake Paul is the bigger guy, he gets the edge with that. He always gets the edge cause he’s the one putting these together.”
“I have to go again with Jake Paul … Yeah Diaz can catch him with one of those unorthodox shots the way he’s caught other people in the cage … But Jake Paul has advanced enough, he’s developed enough … He throws a pretty good jab, he throws his punches pretty straight, especially his right hand with power.
I think he’s gonna get an opportunity to control Diaz on the outside with his jab. You’re not gonna mistake Diaz for an imitation of Floyd Mayweather. He ain’t gonna be slipping and dipping, he’s gonna be there.”
Atlas said he may bet on the fight not going the distance, but advised fans not to ever wager too much on Diaz being stopped.
The fight goes down on August 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas and live on DAZN PPV.