By Jim Dower: Heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs) says he’s signed a promotional deal with British promoter Eddie Hearn. He’s also signed a deal with HBO to have his fights televised on their network.
Miller, 29, says he promotes himself, but he’s co-promoted by Salita Promotions. Hearn would be Miller’s co-promoter.
All you can say about Eddie Hearn signing Miller is the rich get richer. Hearn has already got a huge stable of fighters in the UK with his Matchroom Sport promotions. But adding Jarrell Miller to his stable gives him another very good fighter to add to the mix. Hearn already has Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora in his stable. Adding Miller to that group gives him another chess piece to play with. Hearn can now tell Wilder that he needs to fight Miller before he’ll get a fight with Joshua. It’s doubtful that Hearn will match Miller against Whyte, because the loser of that fight would end up with less popularity in the boxing world.
Miller fights this Saturday against Mariusz Wach (33-2, 17 KOs) on HBO Boxing at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Miller says the Wach fight is an IBF heavyweight title eliminator. The winner will be Joshua’s IBF mandatory challenger. According to Miller, Hearn wants him to fight Anthony Joshua in 2 fights from now after he gets done with Wach and possibly one more fighter after that.
“It’s supposed to be a title eliminator for the IBF,” said Miller to Tstree about his fight with Wach. “I fight him, and I fight one more guy and then I get AJ if he still has the belt. I don’t know who’s next, but after I knock him out, I want AJ next. That’s Eddie Hearn’s idea. He told me. I’m my own promoter, number 1. I have a co-promotional deal with Salita Promotions, and we did a deal with Eddie Hearn and HBO. That’s the promoter right now,” said Miller.
Being part of Hearn’s stable means Miller will get a fight with Joshua sooner or later. Whyte has already fought and lost against Joshua. Chisora blew his chance to stay in the hunt for a Joshua fight with his recent loss. Miller has got to be careful that he doesn’t lose this Saturday night in his fight with Wach, because this isn’t a fight that he can afford to lose.
“I hope so,” said Miller when asked if he thinks he’ll get Joshua before Deontay Wilder does. “We don’t know when we’re going to get that fight. I can stop Dillian Whyte on my worst day. His conditioning ain’t that good. He slap boxes, missing punches and spinning around,” said Miller.
“The only reason Wladimir lost the fight [with Joshua] is because his brother told him to take his foot off the gas a little bit. He had AJ surviving for 3 rounds. AJ quit. He was done. He was gassed out. He was breathing heavy, gasping for air. I’ve never seen Wladimir take his foot off the gas like that. AJ got a lucky break. It excelled him to the next level. It happens, but me, the minute he’s hurt, he’s out of there, point blank period. Wladimir is a millionaire. The hunger isn’t going to be what it used to be. But a young guy like me, I’m going to break his neck, and AJ knows that. He’s the good boy in boxing. He’s England’s hero. I’m Brooklyn’s villain. Remember that. I’m definitely going to get a shot in 2018, but who? I don’t know,” said Miller.
