By Jim Dower: In a Showtime card filled with prospects, unbeaten middleweight Rob Brant (18-0, 11 KO) edged Louis Rose (13-3, 5 KOs) by a narrow 10 round majority decision in the headline fight on Friday night at the Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
The scores were 96-94, 95-95 and 96-94. Brant appeared to be the better man on the night, but a lot of the rounds were definitely close. In the 4th, Brant appeared to briefly hurt Rose with a jab to the head that snapped his head back causing him to back up against the ropes. Rose came back well to end the round on a strong note.
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In heavyweight action, the tall 6’4” unbeaten American Jarrell Miller (15-0-1, 13 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a third round knockout of Akhror Muralimov (14-2, 11 KOs in a scheduled 8 round fight. Miller, a former sparring partner for heavyweight world champions Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko, came into the fight at a heavy 280 ½ pounds.
This was 25 pounds heavier than Miller weighed in his previous fight last June against Excell Holmes. Surprisingly, the extra weight didn’t slow Miller down to any great extent, as he was able to pressure the 27-year-old Muralimov in all three rounds of the fight.
Miller scored a knockout in the third when he landed a hard right hand that sent Muralimov down on the canvas. Muralimov was unable to get back up to beat the count. The fight was then stopped by referee Chris Flores at 1:03 of the 3rd.
If Miller wants to be seen as a serious fighter in the heavyweight division, he’s going to need to lose some weight and keep his wait around the mid-250 area. He’s not going to be able to beat the better heavyweights if he comes into the ring a soft-looking 280lbs like he was last night against Muralimov.
Right now, Miller looks way too easy to hit for him to beat the better heavyweights in the division. He also lacks big punching power. He’s going to need to try and develop his strength somehow. At 27, you would have to figure that Miller is about as strong as he’ll ever be.
“I’m a warrior,’’ said Miller after the fight. “I want knockouts. I don’t want decisions. This was a tough guy tonight. Anybody that can take a smash in the mouth like he did and keep coming back shows that he came to win. I am willing and ready to fight any of the top heavyweights.’’
Miller might want the best heavyweights in the division, but I don’t think he’s ready for any of them. Miller would have problems against even the experienced journeyman level heavyweights. He’s just too raw at this point to go from the prospect stage to the contender stage in my view.
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In other boxing results on the card:
Samuel “The Main Event” Clarkson TKO 2 Lavarn “Baby Bowe” Harvell
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