By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he likes the idea of a fight between his fighter Dillian Whyte and Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller. However, Hearn didn’t say WHEN he wants to put Whyte (20-1, 15 KOs) with the unbeaten talent Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs).
When questioned on the fight, Hearn spoke in a way that suggested that he would make the Whyte-Miller fight happen ‘one of these days’ but definitely not anytime soon.
Jarrell Miller looked sensational last Saturday night in stopping former heavyweight title challenger Gerald Washington in the 8th round on the undercard of the Adrien “The Problem” Broner vs. Mikey Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It’s too bad the Miller-Washington fight didn’t make it on the televised portion of the Showtime Championship Boxing card, as the fans would have been in for a real treat. Miller-Washington was by far the best fight on the entire card. The main event between Broner and Garcia and the co-feature bout between Jermall Charlo and Jorge Sebastian Heiland were both TERRIBLE mismatches from start to finish. The fights weren’t even sporting. Miller vs. Washington had a ton of action and periods of drama.
“Dillian Whyte vs. Jarrell Miller is a great fight,” said Hearn. “I’m looking forward to him in that fight.”
Well, don’t hold your breath waiting for Hearn to put Whyte in with Miller. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see it happening anytime soon if ever. The way that Hearn is talking, he didn’t seem at all excited when asked about Whyte fighting the 6’4”, 298 lb. Miller.
I think he’s going in a different direction for Whyte to make sure he keeps winning. Whyte is ranked #5 by the World Boxing Council and No.6 with the IBF. Hearn wants to get Whyte a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, but his $3 million offer was rejected by the “Bronze Bomber.
Wilder wants $7 million to fight Whyte. Hearn isn’t going to give Wilder his asking price What this means is Whyte will need to keep winning long enough for him to get ranked at No.1 with the WBC. To get Whyte ranked No.1, Hearn is going to need to put him in a WBC title eliminator at some point unless the sanctioning body is willing to just slide him into the top spot without him doing anything. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the WBC make that move.
Bermane Stiverne is ranked No.1 with the WBC, Wladimir Klitschko #2, Luis Ortiz #3 and Kubrat Pulev #4. You can ignore Wladimir and Pulev, because those two will be fighting IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua soon. Whyte will still need to go past Luis Ortiz. The worst nightmare would be for the WBC to order Whyte to fight Ortiz. There’s no way that Whyte wins that fight. Ortiz is too talented and powerful in my view. I don’t think Hearn would agree to that fight even if the WBC did order it.
I think Hearn is going to keep Whyte on a steady diet of fodder opposition until he either gets ranked by the WBC at No.1 or he puts him back in with Joshua. Hearn can obviously make the Joshua vs. Whyte 2 fight at any given time, but it looks like he’s trying to build up the fight by increasing Whyte’s star power. Hearn wants Whyte to get his hands on the WBC belt held by Wilder. I guess Hearn likes Whyte’s chances of beating Wilder. What Hearn is forgetting is that he can increase Whyte’s star power another way by putting him in with talented contenders like Miller and Luis Ortiz. I wonder why Hearn isn’t doing that. Is Hearn worried that Whyte isn’t up to the mark?
“If he wants it in September and the money is right let’s make it happen,” said Whyte on his social media site.
Does that sound to you like Whyte is eager to fight Miller? It doesn’t sound like Whyte is chomping at the bit to fight Miller. I smell fear. Whyte obviously knows he’ll get a title shot sooner or later, as long as he keeps winning. But if Whyte aces the knockout artist Miller, it could be the end of the road for him. Miller could knock Whyte out and send him skittering back to the domestic level fights.
I don’t see Whyte being able to hit the reset button to rebuild after a knockout loss to Jarrell Miller. If that had been Whyte inside the ring with Miller last Saturday night instead of Gerald Washington, Whyte would be in bad shape today with him having been beaten down and stopped by the talented Miller. How do you come back from the type of loss that Washington suffered against Miller? I couldn’t see Whyte doing that.
“For what?” said Jarrell Miller to Fighthype when asked if he’d be willing to travel to the UK to fight Dillian Whyte. “I’m an American heavyweight.”
There’s no point in Miller having to travel to the UK just to fight Whyte. Miller is the one with the name, and he’s the guy with the undefeated record. The last time I checked, Whyte has already been knocked out by Joshua. Moreover, Whyte is coming off of a very, very controversial 12 round split decision win over Chisora on December 10 last year. Boxing News 24 had Chisora winning that fight 9 rounds to 3.
“Yes, for sure,” said Miller’s promoter Dmitry Salita. ”Why would Jarrell have to travel? He’s the star.”
I totally agree with Salido. Why should “the star” have to travel to the UK? That’s a good new nickname for Miller in referring to him as “The Star.” It’s a little bit better than “Big Baby.” Anyway, Whyte isn’t the kind of fight that Miller should have to travel for. If Hearn wants to make a star out of Whyte in the U.S and turn him into a road warrior, then he needs to be fighting guys like Miller. I mean, if Hearn isn’t willing to match Whyte against Miller, then what makes you think he deserves a world title shot against Deontsay Wilder. You got to earn these things. If Whyte can beat Miller, his world ranking will go up. I don’t know if Whyte will get ranked at No.1 by the WBC, but he’ll likely get positioned at No.3 once Pulev and Wladimir are both out of the way.
Hearn is trying to get a big payday title shot for the 29-year-old Whyte, and he doesn’t seem to be eager to put him in with a live body. Whyte was recently scheduled to fight 44-year-old journeyman Michael Grant for August 19 on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo card in Nebraska. The Whyte vs. Grant fight news led to all kinds of criticism for Whyte. A short while later, Grant was pulled as the opponent for Whyte, possibly due to the huge amount of criticism the fight had generated. What the boxing public seems to be ignoring is the soft match-making attempt by Hearn to put Whyte in with a fodder opponent. With Hearn looking in that direction for opponents for Whyte, then no way is he going to put him in with Jarrell Miller. That’s just not going to happen.
Hearn didn’t make the rematch between Whyte and Dereck Chisora. Whyte won a hugely controversial decision over Chisora last December. I saw the fight and I had Chisora winning easily. Why didn’t Hearn make the rematch? I think he didn’t fancy the idea of taking another risk with Whyte. Some boxing fans see Miller as a bigger, stronger and more improved version of Chisora. Miller hits harder with every shot, he has a better punch variety and he doesn’t tire. Miller has great stamina. Chisora fades in his fights. He’s not able to attack for 3 minutes of every round for 12 continuous rounds without tiring. Miller is the type that gets stronger as each round goes on.