Jarrell Miller predicts 6th round KO of Fred Kassi

By Boxing News - 08/19/2016 - Comments

Image: Jarrell Miller predicts 6th round KO of Fred Kassi

By Allan Fox: The 296 pound heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (17-0-1, 15 KOs) will be fighting tonight against the clever Fred Kassi (18-5-1, 10 KOs) for their fight on Showtime Boxing from the Rhinos Stadium in Rochester, New York. Miller will have close to a 60lb weight advantage tonight over the 36-year-old Kassi.

That doesn’t mean Miller will win the fight, because he could very well come up short. Miller has packed on some pounds since his last fight, and it doesn’t look like all the weight he’s put on has been in the form of muscle.

Miller weighed 283lbs three months ago in his mismatch against Nick Guivas. That was nine pounds heavier than the 274lbs that Miller weighed in for his fight against Donovan Dennis. Do you see a trend here? Miller is getting bigger with each fight for some reason.

If he’s to continue at this rate, we can expect Miller to be at least 306lbs for his next fight. It’s unclear what Miller is doing to put on so much weight. Perhaps not training enough or maybe just eating a lot? Whatever it is, Miller is going to need to find a way to keep his weight down because he’s going in the wrong direction with his career from the 252lbs he started out at in 2009 in his pro debut.

The Miller vs. Kassi start time is at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

When does it take place? Friday night

Where does Miller-Kassi take place? Rhinos Stadium, Rochester, New York

Miller has knocked out the last six guys he’s faced in Nick Guivas, Donovan Dennis, Akhror Muralimov, Excell Holmes, Damon McGreary and Raymon Ochieng. We’re not talking about good fighters that Miller is beating, but he’s doing his part by knocking them out to show that he’s able to KO the 3rd tier opposition put in front of him.

You can’t fault Miller for the low level opposition he’s facing due to him not having been a boxing person early on. He was a kick-boxer, and he’s not had the amateur background that other fighters have been blessed with.

The Miller-Kassi fight will be the main event tonight on Showtime. It’s a decent fight. The best thing about Miller isn’t his actual fights. It’s listening to him talk after his fights. He likes to go after the top heavyweights in the division by giving the boxing media his critiques of different fighters. Miller believes he can beat all the top guys. We’ll get a good idea tonight whether Miller has the type of talent to hang with the top fighters when he starts getting hit hard by Kassi. It’s not likely that Miller will be able to KO Kassi, because he’s only been knocked out once in his career by Amir Mansour.

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“Supposedly Fred Kassi is the most durable guy I have fought in my whole entire boxing career,” Miller said via espn.com. “I predict a fifth- [or] sixth-round knockout. I feel once he sees my size and my pressure and the speed that I bring with my footwork, it’s going to be game over for him. I know for a fact I’m going to knock out Fred Kassi. That’s what I do, I take your heart, I take your soul, I take your ribs.”

Miller is not short on confidence. If he tries to KO Kassi, he might get knocked out himself. Miller was getting hit a lot in his fights against Guivas and Dennis when he was plodding forward. Miller’s huge size makes him slow, and very easy to hit. He hasn’t faced anyone with power yet, so he’s been able to walk through the shots from his opponents. That could change tonight if he lets Kassi nail him with right hands. It might not work out well for Miller. At the very least, Miller could be made to look bad even with him still winning the fight.

Dominic Breazeale and Hughie Fury both beat Kassi, and they looked bad. Breazeale should have lost, and Hughie Fury appeared to be badly tired in the 7th when the fight was stopped due to him having suffered a cut from a head clash. Hughie was catching big shots from Kassi. Chris Arreola and Kassi fought to a 10 round draw in July of 2015. It was a controversial though with many boxing fans feeling that Kassi should have won. It’s very possible that the near 300lb Miller will fade just like Hughie, Arreola and Breazeale did against Kassi and be made to look bad.

“My main thing is my strength and my speed and we are going to see, come [Friday],” said Miller.