Whether you love him or hate him, one can’t deny that burgeoning boxer Jake Paul knows how to make headlines.
The adage goes that all attention is good attention, and the YouTube prankster turned Disney star turned professional boxer certainly seems to have taken that line to heart throughout his controversial career.
While many people (myself included) reacted with skepticism when Paul, adroitly nicknamed The Problem Child, announced that he was going pro as a boxer in December 2019, he’s turned the endeavor into the main card event in his life, and he’s doing so to great success: Paul’s February match against Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia pulled in more than 800,000 pay per view buys.
For Paul, who’s making out like a madman with millions brought in after each fight, it doesn’t matter if many people are tuning in to his matches to see him lose, because a paying customer is a paying customer no matter what.
Paul’s next bout is set to take place against Nate Diaz of UFC fame on Saturday, August 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Ever the cunning showman, Paul knows how to pick fights with plenty of intrigue (matches that often simultaneously give him the upper hand).
Here’s a look at how the two fighters compare.
How They Stack Up: Paul
The 26 year old superstar who hails from Cleveland, Ohio suffered the first loss of his professional career earlier this year when Fury defeated him via split decision in a fight that went the distance.
The bout almost couldn’t have been closer, with one judge giving Paul a narrow 75-74 advantage and the other two tallying it 76-73 in favor of Fury.
This will be the first time we’ve seen Paul attempt to respond after a loss in his career, so it’ll be fascinating to see how he responds as he and his viewers join the excitement of the fight with the latest Ohio sportsbooks promos.
Paul stands 6-foot-1 and typically weighs in around 190 pounds. He has a respectable 76 inch reach and possesses a 6-1 record across seven career professional bouts, including six wins in a row to begin his career.
How They Stack Up: Diaz
While he isn’t quite Anderson Silva, Diaz is still one of the best fighters that Paul has faced, a man who’s stepped into the ring with a championship belt on the line.
Diaz, 38, stands an inch shorter than Paul at 6 feet even, with an identical 76 inch reach.
Throughout his professional career he’s maintained a weight around 170 pounds, fighting in the welterweight division since 2016, so Paul likely possesses an advantage in terms of bulk (a common trend, as he likes to pick opponents a size or two down from him) in the bout. With that said, Diaz has had the better part of four months to bulk up since the pair announced the fight, and if anyone knows how to build lean mass in a hurry, it’ll be someone like him who’s spent decades in combat sports.
Throughout his professional career, Diaz holds a 22-13 record (all in MMA rather than boxing), winning 13 bouts via submission and seeing ten of his losses stem from decisions.
His last match came in September 2022, when he defeated Tony Ferguson via submission with a fourth round guillotine choke. That was one of just two matches he’s taken part in since November 2019, but only time will tell whether he’s well rested or rusty after the long layoff.
A Look at the Odds
Here’s a look at what the experts are saying ahead of the big match.
Paul looks to be a heavy favorite, listed anywhere between -270 and -360 to get back in the win column.
The reasons for this are twofold. For one, Paul should have a tremendous size advantage, tipping the scale at roughly 20 pounds heavier than Diaz at their typical fighting weights.
Diaz bulked up to 185 pounds ahead of the fight, but it didn’t come naturally to him, as he complained that he felt sluggish, “lazy and tired” as he upped his training regimen to pack on extra weight.
He’s also a different style of fighter than you typically think of for boxers, relying on the grappling and submissions that MMA allows… but boxing notably does not. UFC bouts typically go five rounds, and Diaz/Paul is set to go ten, so the elder fighter could struggle to go the distance in heavy gloves as he looks to make the transition to a new style of combat sport.