Eddie Hearn unimpressed with Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was not impressed with the boxing fight between Jake Paul and former UFC star Nate Diaz. 

“It was awful,” Hearn said on The MMA Hour. “Don’t get me wrong, the event was unbelievable. You did a great job. Brilliant. But when you’re talking about — you know MMA like the back of your hand. I know boxing like the back of my hand, and I’m watching that like [face in his hands], ‘This is so bad.’ The reason that Nate didn’t get stopped is that Jake didn’t have the ability. He doesn’t know how to break a fighter down, cut off the ring, beat him up, and stop him. But I give my props to Nate: super tough. Super tough. But you’re talking about low, low level in terms of standard.”

Hearn double-downed on the fight not being up to boxing standards by comparing it to lower-level boxing 

“We have something in the U.K. called an area title, which is in a specific radius — it’s kind of like a state title,” Hearn said. “These guys wouldn’t win a state title – that’s the level they’re fighting at.

Eddie Hearn still ‘respects’ Jake Paul 

Even though Hearn didn’t speak highly of the match, he did have some nice things to say about Paul, for what it’s worth. 

“It’s so difficult to say [whether Jake Paul is regressing] because of the level of opposition,” Hearn said. “I thought he did OK against Tommy Fury but then when he’s fighting Nate — I know Nate is super tough and you love him, but he’s very limited as a boxer. I can’t even tell you. I don’t know.”

He continued, “I still respect Jake. He’s putting the time in, he’s sparring, he’s doing rounds. The event was unbelievable, the numbers were great, and although it was a boxer against an MMA guy, it did still feel like a fight. It didn’t feel like a YouTube event. It had real boxers on the undercard, Amanda Serrano. I like the events. I think he’s doing a great job in that respect.”

Paul and Diaz fought for 10 complete rounds where Paul won on all three scorecards. The pair are supposed to fight in the MMA cage next, but at press time nothing has been made official on that front.