Coach Luiz Dorea: ‘I Have No Doubt Anderson Silva Will Knock Logan Paul Out’

Should the Anderson Silva-Logan Paul boxing match come to fruition, famed boxing coach Luiz Dorea expects that Silva will crush his opponent.

After training Silva (34-11 MMA, 2-1 Box) to outbox Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (52-6, 34 KOs Box), Dorea has his hands full with new talent. Dorea, who also has coached Junior dos Santos and Vitor Belfort, will be taking charge of Robson Conceicao’s (16-0, 8 KOs) championship campaign against Oscar Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) in September. The trainer has his sights set not just on this upcoming match, but on the future of Silva in the ring, and he spoke to Sherdog about Silva’s future.

“Logan proved to be a very brave and talented kid doing an exhibition fight against the legend [Floyd] Mayweather,” Dorea stated. “But, of course, if it were in official rules, the result would be different. Let’s see if he will keep hiding under exhibition rules or if he will test himself in the real world [under professional rules]. In that case, I have no doubt Anderson will knock him out.”

The win for Silva against Chavez Jr., according to Dorea, opened up the doors of his academy in Los Angeles to bring many up-and-coming fighters to stage their whole camps there.

“I called Anderson, and he opened his gym right away,” Dorea explained. “It's very important to make that camp in LA, where we can have the support of a lot of Mexican sparring with a similar style to Valdez.”

As a trainer of Belfort for several years, Dorea was also keen to break down Belfort’s upcoming matchup with the legendary Oscar De La Hoya in September.

“That will be a very interesting one,” Dorea admitted. “I would say the result will depend on how each one will prepare for that fight. Vitor is a very explosive fighter, four years younger, much stronger and never abandoned the athlete routine. De La Hoya is one of the GOATs of the sport, much more experienced in boxing matches but we don’t know how he took care of his physical condition during the long time off. The experience is, for sure, on De La Hoya’s side, but I wouldn’t underestimate Belfort, who is very dangerous in the first two rounds. I believe Oscar will move a lot and use his experience to get the win via points.”

Finally, Dorea revealed that former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion dos Santos is also closer to boxing than MMA in his return to competition. Dos Santos was released from the organization in March, ending an over 12-year run with the UFC.

“[Dos Santos] got a proposal to face Fedor [Emelianenko] in Russia, but looks like Fedor didn’t answer yet; we also have a good one from boxing, and I hope [his opponent] accepts that. Soon we must bring great news to his fans,” Dorea concluded.