Jake Paul scored a massive knockdown during his boxing match against former UFC standout Nate Diaz on Saturday night, but “Problem Child” failed to deliver the knockout punch he had predicted.
As expected, Paul came out firing against a slowed and very stagnant Diaz. The former UFC superstar has always been a slow starter, but he looked extra-discombobulated to start his first official boxing match. This allowed Paul to jump out to an early lead and force Diaz to fight from behind for the rest of the bout. Paul also inflicted some good damage to the face of Diaz that showed fairly early.
In Round 5, Paul delivered a crisp counter left hook that caught Diaz on the temple and sent him crashing to the canvas (highlights HERE). It was the most important moment of the fight. Paul had predicted a finish of Diaz in the fifth round so when the Stockton native returned to his feet most thought Paul would rush in for the finish. That never happened. Instead, Paul ended up taking his time once Diaz regained his marbles and beat the former UFC star on the scorecards.
Paul certainly looked good in his unanimous decision win over Diaz, but why didn’t he move in for the kill in the fifth round? Why didn’t Paul try to end the fight after scoring a big knockdown of Diaz?
“Problem Child” answered that question during Saturday’s post-fight press conference (replay HERE).
“My motor was running hot and I was punching him hard and hard and hard, and he wasn’t going down,” explained Paul. “He was standing there. So I didn’t want to burn out and let him catch a win and come back with something.
“So I was being patient, being smart, and was looking for the kill. But at the end of the day, he withstood a bunch of big, big, big punches.”
What do you think? Did Paul really have a chance to finish Diaz and botched it? Or was he never going to finish Diaz inside of the boxing ring?
Sound off!
For complete Paul vs. Diaz results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.