Who is Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller and does he pose a serious threat to Anthony Joshua in 2019?
If you’ve paid any attention to the press conferences held in New York and London recently for the Anthony Joshua Vs Alexander Povetkin fight at Wembley Stadium in September, you will have noticed that a lot of the talk has been about one man that won’t be fighting at the event or even on the undercard.
Originally from Brooklyn, Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller managed to get into a heated confrontation with the unified heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua at the US press conference, with a few choice words being exchanged between the two heavyweights.
From the confrontation alone, Miller’s profile has risen since with many British fight fans asking questions about a future fight between the two heavyweights.
Potentially speaking, Miller currently shares a promoter with Joshua, with both fighters fighting under either the Matchroom or DAZN brand, both run be Eddie Hearn. Miller is also ranked very highly in 3 out of the 4 governing bodies, making him a credible opponent on paper.
However, many Boxing fans now want to see Joshua only fight credible opponents from now on, so we’re going to find out below to see how credible Jarrell Miller’s career has been so far:
Conclusively beat former world title challenger Johann Duhaupas on points earlier this year. Despite coming in at a career heaviest at 304 pounds, Miller easily dispatched of the Frenchman who has a decent record himself of 37-5. However, Miller would be expected to be considerably lighter were he to be awarded a world title shot.
Stopped another former world title challenger in Marius Wach last year in arguably his greatest win as of yet. Wach who has gone the distance against Wladimir Klitschko and was stopped in the final round against Alexander Povetkin, Wach has also defeated respected heavyweights Erkan Teper & Christian Hammer during his career.
Apart from the above, Miller boasts 18 knockouts out of 21 wins, knocking out 9 out of his last 10 opponents. It should be noted that Miller drew a fight early in his professional career, although the result of the fight was impacted due to Miller being deducted 2 points for pushing.
Regardless of your feelings on Miller’s ability or career achievements so far, you can’t deny that he has serious credentials on paper. Currently ranked in the top three of all the governing bodies of which Joshua holds a title in, AJ may have to fight Miller at some point rather than choose to.
Miller being ranked highly can also make him a credible opponent as well as someone who may deliver a competitive fight for Joshua as well as a huge amount of hype along the way if last week’s press conference is anything to go by.
As well as the above, sharing a promoter means that the fight could be made relatively easily especially compared to the debacle that has been the ongoing Joshua V Wilder negotiations for the last few months.
With the Joshua Wilder terms still not having been met, fans of the sport and most likely Joshua and his team will be contemplating a plan B for April 13th 2019 at Wembley Stadium.
With Dillian Whyte the current frontrunner, Miller could quite possibly be a reserve for April 13th or could even fight whoever has the majority of the heavyweight belts in late 2019 depending on his own results of course.
Recently Miller rejected the chance to travel to Bulgaria to fight Kubrat Pulev as a final eliminator for Joshua’s IBF title. Instead, the American will be fighting on October 6th as part of the first US DAZN show in Chicago against an unnamed opponent at time of writing.
Due to several heavyweights being tied up with other fights, finding another top 15 heavyweight for Miller could prove difficult. However, assuming that Miller continues to win, many can doubt that the loud US fighter doesn’t have both the CV & the mouth to get him into a mega fight potentially with Anthony Joshua in the next 18 months.
Credit to The Sun for the image