Nate Diaz spent much of his pro boxing debut looking a little lost in the ring. He faced Jake Paul, who towered over Diaz, and imposed his will on the UFC veteran for much of the early rounds of their fight.
Diaz, at the post-fight press conference, admitted that he was nursing a shoulder injury that prevented him from fighting the way he wanted to.
Nate Diaz Reveals Disastrous Shoulder Injury In Jake Paul Fight
“[Coach] Richard [Perez] got mad at me because I wasn’t training how I should have been training. I should have been throwing punches, keeping him on the outside and doing a lot of stuff.
Like I said in an interview, I’m not trying to make excuses, but about a month back I was trying to stay big and I hurt my arm a little bit.
Wear and tear on my right arm if I was jabbing or doing a lot of stuff, so I would get inside and fight like a Mexican guy.
Smother their punches and get in there and make every sparring session a brawl and did that in camp, and that’s how the fight went.
I think I should have kept on the outside, circled, and did better stuff. I know I pissed Rich off, he don’t want me to say it but he wanted me to keep it on the outside and I should have.
But it’s all good. There’s no way I’m not going to show up for a fight because of something like that. You’ve got to go regardless, no matter what. So I plan on doing my next one, if it’s gonna be boxing, we’re going to work like a small guy not a big guy.”
Diaz fought much of his career as a UFC lightweight, weighing in at around 155 pounds, before a move to welterweight late in his career saw him fighting at 170 pounds.
That’s a far cry from the 185-pound limit of his fight against Jake Paul, who walks around at over 200 pounds. The size difference proved to be a mitigating factor for Diaz, as many predicted.
“I would have liked to have stayed smaller. If I went up to this weight, I would like to have trained like I do when I’m smaller.
I was concerned with getting bigger and s*** and I didn’t think he was much bigger than me. I thought he was bigger than that training for the fight.”
