Nate Diaz vs. Jake Paul - Event Review

The Nate Diaz vs. Jake Paul fight has passed us this weekend, Saturday, August 5th. On such a peaceful Sunday, one can only think why Jake Paul chose to fight such a storied opponent, only to fail at securing the finish. On the week's new episode of DQ w/ Damani, I specifically mentioned not discussing the event on the air. While not enjoying the main event, there were still some outstanding performances on the undercard.

The co-main event in particular was incredible to watch, Amanda Serrano's boxing is truly breathtaking. The way she can throw uppercuts from opposite hands is rare to see in boxing, especially considering how long it can take to throw an uppercut against a straight shot. She put her 5-belt undisputed featherweight crown up against Heather Hardy, who was outclassed but remained in the fight due to her chin. Hardy is a solid featherweight contender who has gone to war with Serrano once before in 2019, that time only for two belts, one WBC interim featherweight belt, and the other being the WBO's featherweight belt. Hardy lost the first match due to her inability to be first to the punch against Serrano. It wasn't out of the question to say that Serrano was faster than Hardy, and history repeated itself once more in 2023. Watching that match, one can tell that Hardy was worn down from all of the damage she was taking, but regardless of that, she continued to press forward. Hardy gave the fans in Texas quite a show, throwing several body shots and hooks that slipped through Serrano's defense. In the final round, the two women embraced one another and decided to fully let their hands fly. Serrano got the better of Hardy in the end, which caused a significant cut to appear on her forehead, as well as damaging her upper lip. At the end of the contest, Serrano gave a massive shoutout to Hardy and all of the other women in the sport of boxing currently, who are making a serious effort to get meaningful funding for their events, as well as more unification fights. It was great to see two female warriors show one another respect, and promote the sport to the world. Serrano was able Amanda Serrano defeats Heather Hardy once again with the scores reading 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.

Before the co-main, Chris Avila displayed once again why sticking to your 1-2 is important. The jab and cross continuously landed against Jeremy Stephens, and it was all due to how lackluster his guard was. Leaving his hands spread wide on either side of his head was just inviting Chris to throw the jab and cross a multitude of times, and Jeremy lost rounds with little else to say. The judges' scorecards reflected that which doesn’t leave much room for anyone to say that Jeremy Stephens was robbed. If former UFC star Jeremy Stephens wants to continue boxing, he'll need a considerably large reworking of his defense.

The main event was a complete train wreck. Fans of boxing were not impressed by Jake Paul's victory over Nate Diaz, due to his poor defensive showing. An influencer boxer landing punches is always great to see, but when one's opponent is repeatedly throwing the same punches and landing those as well, there is certainly an issue. Nate Diaz was able to walk forward and easily blitz Jake Paul with a flurry of shots with ease. Nate was toying with Jake across the 10-round stretch, and did not appear tired at all. Across the two neutral corners, Jake Paul looked winded. His cardio was not up to par, in several rounds he dropped his hands completely. On the stool he breathed heavily, another indicator that he was gradually beginning to gas out. He applied serious effort to trying to hurt Nate, and was rewarded with a knockdown, but not a finish. Jake Paul secures a disappointing victory over Nate Diaz, with the scorecard reading 97-92, 98-91, and 98-91.