It was hard to find much in the way of genuine highlights at Tuesday’s Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz press conference, hosted at the cavernous American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
That’s the same venue that will house the pair’s August 5 boxing spectacle, which features Amanda Serrano vs. Heather Hardy in the co-headliner. But that date, presumably, will include fans packed to the rafters, whereas Tuesday’s presser featured Paul, Diaz, host Ariel Helwani, assorted security guards, and members of the media.
Really, this could have been done in a hotel conference room. Or your local Denny’s. Even Diaz seemed surprised, asking at one point where everyone was.
“I don’t know where all the f*cking people are at. Aren’t there no normal people at this press conference?” Diaz questioned. “Whose idea was this?”
“We should have had a 100 normal people in here. This is a sketch-ass press conference. F*cking rookie-ass press conference. Next time, let the whole place in.”
“You know you’re the one putting on the event?” Paul interjected. Diaz’s own newly launched promotion, Real Fight Inc., is co-promoting the show. “Yeah I do know that. But I thought maybe you’d have it together by now, you’ve fought in big shows,” retorted Diaz, promising that things would be different “next time, motherf*ckers.”
Per host Helwani, the event’s Fight Week will be open to fans. Who, if you believe the hype, have signed up in the thousands — 20K, reportedly — for pre-sale tickets to Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz.
If fan interest is that high, media interest on the other hand seems borderline. A number of the usual suspects were there on the MMA side, given it’s Nate Diaz involved, after all. On the boxing side, well, Paul appears to still be struggling to get respect, especially after his loss to Tommy Fury earlier this year.
Then there was “Derek from Betr Media,” who decided to turn a circus into a clown show.
Derrick from Better Media has locked in the worst media member of the year award pic.twitter.com/ofo1hAVx2A
— Ben Davis (@BenTheBaneDavis) May 9, 2023
“Nate I’m actually a boxer myself and I’ve been trying to get into this undercard,” the reporter (and that’s a term we’re using lightly) began, in what appeared to be a shot at a sound bite or publicity stunt. Things went south quickly from there. “I’m just wondering if you think I could fight your brother Nick. If he’s anything like you, I bet I could beat his f*cking ass.”
“Not very respectful,” Ariel Helwani observed. Diaz was a little more to the point.
“Brother, what you think you’re just going to walk away on the streets or some sh*t? My homeboys see your right now,” he chimed in. “That was stupid.”
“I’m definitely pretty nervous right now,” admitted a suddenly less confident “Derek,” before Jake Paul made the save.
“He works for my company, I’ll handle that later,” said Paul. “I’ll fire him later, I’m sorry about that Nate.”
Whether Derek was a plant or not, Jake Paul at least tried to bail him out. Keep in mind, Diaz was recently charged with assaulting a Logan Paul lookalike in a street fight.
Paul, mind you, can get away with such jibes, bringing out a wind-up Jolly Chimp clapping symbols together. “I think this is what’s going on in Nate’s brain,” exclaimed Paul, getting little to no reaction from Diaz.
Diaz, in fact, was on his best behavior on Tuesday, aside from his trademark profanity, which generated an apology to the viewers at home from Helwani at one point. And then there was the point, towards the end of the presser, where Diaz simply got up and walked off for a bathroom break.
“Is this man leaving?” an incredulous Paul asked. “Jesus Christ. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Paul might want to get used to it. He’s signed up to fight Nate Diaz, who brings chaos with him wherever he roams. As for what we learned about the fight itself: Paul and Diaz have yet to settle on how many rounds are in play, though anything from 8 to 15 appears to be possible (15 being rather unlikely, so between 8 and 12 really), while it will be contested at 185lbs, as expected.
