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Expect a completely different Jake Paul when he faces Nate Diaz later this year.
On Aug. 5, Paul faces Diaz in an eight-round boxing match at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The fight is Paul’s first since losing a split decision to Tommy Fury in February, and to hear Paul tell it, that loss led him to change everything about how he approached the sport.
“I think it made me reevaluate everything, including myself, my coaches, the people around me, everything,” Paul said at the Paul vs. Diaz press conference. “And I think that’s good to do in life. It was sort of this reset and this opportunity to look into the mirror. I learned more about myself in the loss than I have in any of the wins. It’s made me stronger mentally in life, in everything that I’m doing, and it’s almost like a relief in a sense.
“I never wanted to lose but now that it’s out of the way, I can sort of be free. So in many ways it’s very, very freeing, and I think it will help me fight more calm and focused. I brought in a bunch of new people into the team and I’m excited to show people my new skillset on August 5th.”
Among those new names are a couple of old friends, most notably, boing Hall of Famer Shane Mosely Mosley helped prepare Paul for his first ever professional boxing match against AnEnsonGib in 2020, and has since rejoined Team Paul in preparation for Diaz. The plan, according to Paul, is for Mosley to shore up some of the deficiencies that cost him against Fury. and deliver the best possible version of Paul come August.
“I’ve switched up pretty much the whole entire team, brought in new people who are going to hold me accountable for the mistakes that I am making in the gym,”Paul said. “Even down to the nutrition, strength and conditioning coaches, all of that has been switched. I believe I learned a lot from the last fight. I’m just implementing those things into my training camp and not going to make the same mistakes as before…
“I brought in Shane and Theo Chambers, as well as J’Leon [Love] on the team. I was talking [them] after the fight and they all identified the same little mistake that I was making in the boxing ring that needed to be fixed, which would allow the rest of my mistakes that I was making to be corrected. Once they were all on the same page, Shane was free and willing to come in and do this full time, so we assembled the Avengers team. I feel like a whole completely different fighter already in just a short amount of time, and we still have 88 days until the fight. So I’m excited to keep on working and this is going to be my best performance.
For Paul, these changes echo a new mentality. Coming off a loss, Paul now runs the risk of his first losing streak in boxing, something that may ultimately upend his grander ambitions in the sport. So with his back up against the proverbial wall, Paul says he’s preparing for this fight like it is “do or die.”
“In my mind, that’s how I’m treating it,” Paul said. “This is the only thing I’m focused on. I’m filled with that hunger, and I have more conviction now than ever about what I’m going to do in this sport. When you’re doing a lot of fights back to back to back, I’m knocking everyone out, putting them on their ass, making tens of millions of dollars, you can lose that hunger, and that loss re-instilled that in me. I’m excited to come back. I said don’t judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses, so I’m going to come back. I’ve been working in silence, I promise you that. I promise you I know what I’m capable of and this is going to be the best version of Jake Paul that you’re ever going to see in the ring.”
And as for the fight itself, Paul believes all of this preparation is going to pay dividends. The YouTuber-turned-boxer is confident that come August, Diaz is going down early.
“I think he’s going to be sharp for a couple of rounds, but there’s just nothing he can do to stop me,” Paul said. “I’m faster, I’m stronger, I’m the better boxer. He’s going to be coming forward, doesn’t have head movement, trying to pressure me, he’s going to get diced up. I see it ending in four rounds or less.”
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