Undefeated middleweight boxer Esquiva Falcao says he went 12 rounds with Nate Diaz in sparring on Wednesday, and he didn’t sound impressed by the UFC veteran’s skills.
Esquiva, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist who is 30-0 (20 KOs) as a professional boxer, is preparing to face Vincenzo Gualtieri for the vacant IBF title on July 1 in Germany. He recently shared the ring with Diaz ahead of the MMA veteran’s boxing debut opposite Jake Paul on Aug. 5.
“At first I thought he was tired, and in the end it looked like he was dying,” Falcao said on a video posted on his social media. “His fighting style is crazy. You look at him and say, ‘Oh, he’s tired,’ and then we started sparring. [Coach] Robert [Garcia] told me in the second round, ‘He’s tired already, hold back a little bit and keep the rhythm so he does at least 10 rounds.’”
The Paul-Diaz match was originally agreed upon for eight rounds, but they have since moved to have it changed to 10 rounds instead.
Diaz fought his entire UFC career at lightweight and welterweight, but he meets Paul in a 185-pound contest. It will be Diaz’s first appearance since fighting out of his UFC contract in September 2022, when he won a decision over Tony Ferguson.
“I held back and kept boxing, and we did 12 rounds,” Falcao said of the sparring session. “He was tired, but taking punches and throwing, too. [He] is bad, [he] is bad, but since he’s too heavy — he’s overweight, probably around 220 pounds or more — and I’m the only big guy in the gym, I had to do it. But I liked doing it.”
If Nate Diaz gets dropped by Jake Fucking Paul…lol
What he said bout Nate could be true, he’s also a dickhead acting all cool and shit with Nate and literally next second talks shit about Nate in portu
Too many people break gym code just looking to get their name in the media for a second. Hopefully dude loses his next boxing match that nobody heard about before this interview to bash Nate.
Nate just isn’t a very good boxer. He is easy to hit, but just had good cardio and good pressure.
To be fair, I’d never heard of the guy so I guess it worked in this case 
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I never understood the whole thing about the Diaz brothers being such amazing boxers.
I know Andre Ward used to pump them up, and maybe he really believes they were decent, but their whole game seemed to always be volume and pressure. Especially Nate with his extra slappy punches. They also have shit defence. Yeah they cut easy, but even wet toilet paper won’t tear if it doesn’t get hit all the fucking time.
Nick looked better than Nate boxing but neither seemed like boxing world beaters in the old squared circle.
THIS
Esquiva Falcao — a Brazilian 2012 silver medalist in London
This is true. He “slaps” a lot of his punches. Nick is definitely the better boxer of the two.
I can’t wait to make $$$$$ on Jake Paul