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
If you thought that YouTube sensation Jake Paul’s boxing career was over after his loss to Tommy Fury, think again.
“The Problem Child” will fight ex-UFC superstar Nate Diaz in a boxing match at 185 pounds on Aug. 5 in Dallas.
The boxing match will be fought in 10-ounce gloves, a slight uptick from what Diaz is used to using in MMA, where they fight in four-ounce gloves.
Paul, 26, figures to have a weight advantage against Diaz, who normally fights at 170 pounds.
Oddsmakers immediately opened Paul as a sizeable -250 favorite for this bout.
This will be Diaz’s first professional boxing match, but he is 21-13 lifetime in MMA with wins over Conor McGregor and Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.
Paul and Diaz, 37, have traded barbs for the past few years.
Diaz slapped a coach of Paul’s during a backstage confrontation the night of Paul’s fight with Anderson Silva in October.
“I want Nate Diaz, who’s a b–ch,” Paul called out in a post-fight press conference after defeating Silva.
This fight has taken a while to come to fruition despite mutual interest.
Diaz had been under contract with the UFC, which has a strict non-compete clause, until he fulfilled the final fight on his deal with a win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in September.
Diaz told Ariel Helwani last July that UFC was “holding me hostage” shortly before he was booked for a welterweight fight against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279.
Chimaev missed weight and the card was changed, with Diaz submitting Ferguson in the fourth round of the main event after Chimaev submitted Kevin Holland in the first round of a catchweight fight.
Paul previously defeated ex-UFC fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice) and Silva in boxing bouts.