By Jim Dower: Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs) says he’s going to be using a high-volume attack and constant pressure to try and knockout his opponent former heavyweight world title challenger Mariusz Wach (33-2, 17 KOs) this Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Wach has the size and the power to give Miller difficulties on Saturday. Miller can’t overlook the Polish heavyweigh’s power. He could wind up on the canvas if Wach puts all of his power behind one of his shots.
Miller views himself as the next big star out of Brooklyn, New York. Miller wants to follow in the footsteps of past Brooklyn heavyweights like Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs and Riddick Bowe. At 29, Miller is far behind those guys in terms of accomplishments. By the time Tyson and Bowe were Miller’s age, they’d already won world titles at heavyweight many years before. Miller’s progress has been a lot slower.
Miller, 6’4”, didn’t have the amateur background that some of the better-known heavyweights have had. Miller has had to learn on the job, working as a sparring partner for the likes of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.
Miller and Wach are fighting a 10-round bout on the undercard of the Danny Jacobs vs. Luis Arias card on HBO World Championship Boxing. Miller, 29, has a good chance to steal the show if he can go after Wach and KO him in front of what is expected to be a huge crowd. Jacobs doesn’t always come out slugging in his fights, as we saw in his last bout against middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, so Miller could be the one that wins over the boxing fans with his fight with the towering 6’7” Wach in the co-feature bout.
“You’ve seen Riddick Bowe, you’ve seen Mike Tyson, you’ve seen Shannon Briggs. I’m next in line,” Miller said to skysports.com. “If you know about Brooklyn, you know that Brooklyn has a pedigree, the homestead for some of the world’s greatest heavyweight boxers.”
Miller wants a piece of IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who he calls a “mental midget.” Miller could get a fight against Joshua if he keeps winning. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has already taken a liking to Miller, and he views him as someone that he’d like to match against Joshua soon. Miller might scare Hearn off though if he looks too good in beating Wach on Saturday night. Hearn is a businessman first and foremost, and he doesn’t want to throw Joshua to the wolves yet. Hearn still hasn’t matched Joshua against any of the young and talented heavyweights. He did put Joshua in with old timer 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko last April, and he almost Joshua almost got knocked out.
Miller looked a little shaky in his last fight against former heavyweight world title challenger Gerald Washington in their fight earlier this year on July 29. Despite getting an 8th round stoppage win, Miller looked like he was ready to be knocked out in round 5 after Washington unloaded on him with a flurry of answered shots. Miller took 10 consecutive hard head shots from Washington in the 5th.
Some referees would have stopped the fight with the way Miller was getting pummeled, but he made it through the barrage of punches to eventually win the fight. It wasn’t a good sign though seeing Miller get worked over like that. Washington gassed out after the 5th, and Miller was then able to come on and dominate the rest of the way. Against a heavyweight with a good engine, Miller will have problems.
“Well, I’m planning on definitely getting the stoppage” said Miller. “I don’t think he is ready for the pressure or kind of size I bring to the table, and the amount of punches I can hit him with.”