By Scott Gilfoid: Highly ranked heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller is targeting British heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte after he faces former world title challenger Gerald Washington on July 29 of this month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Miller-Washington are fighting on the undercard of the big fight between Adrien “The Problem” Broner and Mikey Garcia on Showtime Boxing.
The fight card will give the big 6’4” unbeaten Miller (18-0, 16 KOs) a lot of good publicity, provided that he gets past the talented 6’7” Washington (18-1-1, 12 KOs) in flying colors. It won’t be easy for Miller, as Washington looked good in his last fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder earlier this year in February. Washington lost the fight by a 5th round knockout, but he did some things that gave Wilder problems. It was a good learning experience for the 35-year-old Washington despite losing the contest.
“I’m coming for Joshua,”said Miller to skysports.com. “I know Whyte is coming over here and I don’t know what bag of donuts he will have in the fight, but if he fights me, he loses. I’m on a collision course with AJ or Whyte and those matchups definitely will happen, especially when they come over here and fight.”
Well, Miller is going to need to wait a while before he can get a shot against Anthony Joshua, since he’s booked up for the remainder of 2017, and for 2018 as well. Joshua has a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko he’ll be taking in November or December. If Joshua is still the IBF/WBA champion after that that fight, then he’ll be defending against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev in the first half of 2018.
Joshua could then face either Deontay Wilder or Joseph Parker in a unification match. If Joshua emerges from that fight as the unified champion, then he’ll be looking for unification fight. Miller is probably going to need to wait until 2019 at the earliest for a title shot against Joshua. Assuming that Miller keeps winning, he could still be waiting for a world title shot in 2020.
The reality is, Miller is too good for his own good. Without the help of the sanctioning bodies making him their No.1 contender, it’s very likely that Miller will be waiting another 2 to 3 years for a world title shot. Joshua isn’t going to take a fight against a dangerous puncher like Miller for the heck of it. No way does that happen. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn are more strategic with the fights they take. They usually don’t take on dangerous opponents. That’s the No.1 thing that you notice about Joshua and Hearn. They take easier fights against guys like Eric Molina and Dominic Breazeale.
The match Klitschko is a different situation due to him being older at 41, inactive, and it being a huge money fight. It was a risk well worth it for Joshua because of those factors. If Wladimir was 10 years younger and still in his prime, I don’t think for a second that Joshua would have faced him. I think Wladimir would have been put on the kettle the same way David Haye has without Joshua facing him.
“When I get past Washington, it can be a breakout performance. Every fight for me is a step up and progression in the right direction,” said Miller.
Miller is ranked #6 WBO, #7 IBF in the heavyweight division. Washington is rated 15 WBC. This is a good test to see how good Miller is as a future world title challenger. Washington lasted 5 rounds against Deontay. Washington gave him a good run for his money until Deontay got serious with him in the 5th and put him away with a series of hard right hands to the head.
For Miller to outdo what Deontay did, he’s going to need to take Washington out straightaway on July 29. In fact, that’s what my advice would be for Miller if I were his trainer. He needs to go after Washington in the 1st round and try and smash him with a big power shot to the head.
If Miller can knockout Washington in the 1st round, it would be a nice feather to put in his cap. A knockout like that would be statement for Miller to send to the top fighters in the heavyweight division. It would be Miller’s coming out party. Unfortunately, a knockout of that kind would also likely result in Miller being put on the ignore list by the top heavyweights in the division.
Whyte would likely steer clear of Miller for good if he blows past Washington. It’s not just Whyte. It’s his promoter Hearn. He’s not going to risk Whyte’s hide by throwing him in with a dangerous puncher with the same and talent of someone like Jarrell Miller. There’s too much good clean cash to be made in a rematch between Whyte and Joshua in the UK on Sky Box Office PPV. I think that’s the fight that Hearn is trying to build up by putting Whyte in beatable fights.
Hearn hasn’t said anything about putting Whyte back in with Dereck Chisora for a rematch following Whyte’s controversial 12 round split decision win over him from last December. What does that tell you? The British boxing fans would like to see a rematch between Chisora and Whyte. Hearn isn’t going that, is he? Instead, Whyte will be fighting next month in the U.S on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo card on August 19 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. That fight card will be televised by HBO Championship Boxing. Why is Hearn putting Whyte on the Crawford-Indongo card in the U.S? It’s obvious that he’s trying to build up Whyte’s name in the U.S so that he can make a fight between him and Deontay or Joshua a bigger fight.
Hearn has already made a reported $3 million offer to Deontay to defend against #5 Whyte. Deontay countered with a $7 million asking price. Thus far, Hearn has been quiet about the fight. But if he wants the fight badly enough for Whyte, Hearn could potentially make a deal. I mean, I don’t think for a second that Whyte would beat Deontay, but you never know. Whyte could land a lucky punch and get a knockout. Hearn would then be in a good position to setup a nice in house unification fight between Joshua and Whyte in 2018 in the UK. It would be a big fight in the UK. It wouldn’t be big in the U.S obviously, and the ratings probably wouldn’t do good numbers on Showtime Boxing in the U.S. Joshua has a contract with Showtime to have his fights piped into the U.S and shown on Showtime.
Miller is a diamond in the rough fight now. He’s got the size, power and talent to become a world champion. He just needs the right fights and more time. It’s a waiting game. Miller must keep winning against the right opponents and then wait for his chance at a world title. But as I said earlier, Miller is not going to be given a world title shot unless he becomes a mandatory challenger to Joshua. Miller is too dangerous for him to be given a title shot without him becoming the mandatory to Joshua.