Why Jake Paul is the favourite against Nate Diaz

Olympic champion boxer Audley Harrison believes that Jake Paul is the clear favourite in his boxing bout against MMA star Nate Diaz.

Diaz is not renowned for his strking within the Octagon and Harrison feels that Paul’s experience will give him the edge.

Nate Diaz will face Jake Paul in the boxing ring on 5 August 2023 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Jake Paul is the favourite in bout against Nate Diaz

Harrison feels that Diaz has every chance of being competitive and believes that if he does a good job in camp he might go the distance.

Harrison told Safebettingsites.com: “I don’t think Nate Diaz probably knows enough about boxing. Can he learn enough to make it competitive in time? You see it with Tyron Woodley kind of got himself there competitively. So Nate Diaz, he’s a competitor, isn’t he? So I think he’s going to get himself there, hopefully. And it’ll be a good fight for what it is. But I think Jake Paul is the favourite.”

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Harrison feels that boxers can learn from the proliferation of so-called YouTube fighters.

“People want to see boxing. They want to see UFC. They can coexist. We don’t need to say, ‘well, it’s this or that’. No. It’s just not how life works. Even the boxers, you can learn from the YouTubers about building your audience. You can’t just be in the gym, focus on fighting. Put out an instagram post, do an update on Twitter about some of your thoughts, share some of your thoughts. 

“You’ve got to be more engaging and be a bit viral. Do something a little crazy. It may feel uncomfortable. I didn’t have any shame in my game about marketing myself, doing the publicity, because you can’t just be a boxer. Learn from these YouTubers and stuff about creating content, because that’s what it’s about, ultimately. Create content, monetise it, and make your money and get out!”

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Stop hating on Jake Paul and YouTube boxing

Harrison feels that the connection to YouTube personalities has breathed new life into the sport.

“When I came through, everybody in England from my first fight knew who Audley Harrison was,” He added. 

“People used to be hating, like, ‘he’s a celebrity boxer, he’s going to meet the Royal family, he’s going to these film premieres’. I was like, don’t hate the player, hate the game. I’ve come in here and I’m making noise, I’m making my money. This is me, I’m shining my light. I make no apologies for it. Deal with it. They’re like, ‘but you’re an undercard fighter, you shouldn’t be fighting the main event’. Well, if I’m not fighting the main event, why are they paying money, why is everybody coming to see me?”

“Same as the YouTubers. Stop hating. They’re shining their light, they’re making money. They’re putting boxing on the TV. It’s a different sport. It’s like the UFC. What they’re doing, that YouTube boxing is like the white collar boxing. They have their audience and the fact that they want to box and the audience want to watch them and pay the money to do it, you can’t hate on that. The traditionalist. That’s antiquated. It’s not relevant. I had the same fight with them 30 years ago. Boxing is what it is, and that’s a different kind of boxing. But it’s bringing fans to the sport. People want to see it because they’re influencers. It’s okay.”

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