This morning I opened the following e-mail and viewed the linked video.

Hey there James! How are things? I hope everything is well for you.

I wanted you to take a look at this Youtube clip, and tell me what you think:

They say that Nick Diaz has a very 'unorthodox' boxing style, but I don't see it. I just see good boxing. Not a whole lot of foot work, but definitely good combos. Seems like he can hit most pro fighters at will with his punches, as they come from 'weird angles' according to the color commentators.

Anyway, a storm is coming and it's time to get off this machine. Take care of yourself.

Okay, to begin with, this Diaz kid is a freak of nature; basically a gibbon on steroids. What he is able to do with his hands is largely due to his natural gifts further enabled by his remarkable level of empathy, which could probably only be detected with a depleted uranium probe. Diaz not only has long arms but wide shoulders as well—which, contrary to the armchair warriors at HBO—makes wing span much more important than arm length. A slender girl with arms that long might come in handy if your bisexual, but she’s not going to be able to hit like Nick.

Initial diagnosis: Freak with long arms and wide shoulders. Do you realize what a head-case you have to be to be a pothead and sill be that pissed off at the world? They should pass a law that this dude has to smoke pot!

I do not see good boxing.

I see a superb MMA application of some pretty sloppy boxing.

Nick is so far ahead with his hands that he can forgo ‘orthodox’ boxing, meaning how boxers are taught to box, in the same way that Roy Jones Junior did. Roy hardly ever jabbed. One note, a punch that they called a hook and that dropped a guy, looked to me to be a jab with a micro pivot under it.

What Diaz is doing right comes down to three things.

1. He is avoiding hand damage by throwing a looping upper cut or hook way around the elbows. Due to his heavy hands, broad shoulders, and his nice tight pivot, it still hurts like hell. He is essentially throwing loopy long range shovel hooks with a half pivot. Pay attention to his foot traction. If timed precisely, which he is giving himself time to do, a half pivot popped fast at the point of impact transforms that lazy loopy punch that no one is worried about into a killer, like a really slow whip that cracks supper fast at the end of the stroke. Punching power does not come from punching speed, but from the speed of the punch at that fraction of a second it lands. Look at how deliberately he avoids the elbows and makes sure to land to the body with a three-quarter supinate just in case the elbows descends late. The guy likes his thumbs, and rightfully so.

2. He is saving his hands with those pity-pat finger-knuckle hooks and slaps, which, is honing his targeting system and permitting him to further time those pivots that you MMA meatheads don’t even see. The slaps should be developed and hardened, with the ear targeted to deafen his opponents. As of now he is just using them for psychological effect and target mapping.

3. He is mugging his opponents into a passive defense when they should be busting up his hands, actually punching and throwing elbows at his hands. When you have ‘sick’ power vistas open up for you that are closed to us mere mortals. It is more than his gifts and pivot though. He understands boxing as applied to MMA better than his opponents. He would not get away with this against top ten boxers in a boxing match. But, in an MMA match, where he’s got them worried about takedown defense and getting kicked, he could do it to the best boxers just like he does it to the best MMA guys.

When you look at this clip you are seeing the resurrection of a lot of old time boxing tactics used by such men as Jack Johnson, James J. Corbett and Robert Fitzsimmons. The Diaz style ‘bolo’ uppercut was still current in the 1950s, with Kid Gavilan [never KO’d in 143 bouts] using it to terrorize standup boxers.

I am of the opinion that Diaz’s boxing could be improved immensely, and that he could be a boxing champion, not just a title holder. As far as street fighting, this kid is a long way from his prime. When he is a 45 year old alcoholic has-been with about 90 pounds of blubber around his waist to lay on you while he sets you up for the bolo-shovel hook, then you MMA heroes really need to walk away—or shank his ass.