Those close to all-time great Anderson
Silva believe that Jake Paul is
making a grave error by taking a fight with him.
Right after the boxing match of Silva and Paul was announced for
October 29 at a currently undetermined location rumored to be in
Arizona, Sherdog spoke to Silva’s boxing coach, Luiz Dorea, in Las
Vegas. Dorea is quite a hot commodity in the boxing world, as he
will not even get to start training Silva until after his pupil and
2016 Olympic champ Robson Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) faces American
Shakur Stevenson, in Newark, N.J., at the end of September. The
Conceicao-Stevenson match will be for the WBC, WBO and “The Ring”
super featherweight titles, and Dorea has his hands full preparing
his fighter for that contest.
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“We came to Vegas to have two weeks of sparring here,” Dorea
explained. “We know it will be a war [between Stevenson and
Conceicao], we are going to face the champion on his homeland, but
Robson is very well prepared.”
The day after that fight, Sept. 24, Dorea will depart Newark for
Silva’s camp, which will be held in Los Angeles. The coach will not
travel alone, as he will bring with him both Conceicao and 2020
Olympic gold medalist Hebert Conceicao, who competes around 165
pounds generally.
“We will leave Newark straight to LA,” Coach Dorea explained. “I
just talked to Anderson, he is really motivated to October 29.”
Unlike Silva’s May match with fellow MMA-expat Bruno
Machado, the fight with Paul will be under professional boxing
rules. It is expected to take place around Silva’s more familiar
weight category of 85kg, or about 187 pounds.
“What Anderson just told me is that it would be professional boxing
rules,” he said. “Eight rounds of three minutes [each] with
10-ounce gloves, and, of course, with knockouts being allowed. The
weight, if I’m not wrong, will be 85kg.”
The well-regarded boxing trainer made no bones about who he is
expecting to come out on top in this clash.
“Jake is a talented kid, no doubt, but he never faced a real
striker,” Dorea said flatly. “Anderson is a different athlete. He
is [an] orthodox fighter that fights as a southpaw, so he has power
in both hands. He moves very well and has amazing [footwork] and
distance control.”
When asked to predict a specific result, Dorea believed a knockout
was entirely possible, but guaranteed his job is to make Silva
ready to box eight rounds.
“We always say that the knockout is a consequence of a well-done
job, never the main goal,” Dorea analyzed. “Anderson made his
[return to boxing] against Julio Cesar Chaves, a former world
champion with more than 50 fights, winning clearly at his home;
right after that, he knocked out Tito Ortiz in
the 1st round. Then he did an exhibition fight against Bruno
[Machado].”
Dorea continued, “I believe in a great win from Anderson
Silva. Jake Paul
never faced a fighter [at] that technical level. Anderson is 47
years old but boxes like a 25-year-old boy. Besides technical
preparation, Jake must be [mentally] well-prepared when he will
have on the other side [of the ring] the best MMA fighter of all
time. The experience, the ability and technique of Anderson
Silva will be a turning point. If everything goes as planned,
Jake
Paul will end up repenting himself for having accepted that
fight.”