By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs) is targeting fellow Matchroom Sport fighter Dillian “The Body Snatcher” Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) in his next fight after he gets done dealing with the 6’7” Mariusz Wach (33-2, 17 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night on HBO.
(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-Matchroom Boxing USA)
In addition to wanting Whyte, Miller says he wants a title shot against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Miller is rated No.5 with the World Boxing Organization. That might be a tougher wish for his new co-promoter Eddie Hearn to fulfill though, as he’s more interested in matching IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua against Parker next in February or March 2018.
If there’s going to be a fight made involving Parker, it’s almost surely going to be against Joshua. Hearn is trying to setup fights between Joshua and the last 2 remaining heavyweight belt holders in 2018 in Parker and WBC champion Deontay Wilder. It would be bad news if Miller beats Parker before Joshua does. Hearn wants Joshua to be the one that takes the WBO belt from Parker.
“Dillian Whyte does not want the fight. He wants to fight Deontay Wilder for a big payday,” said Miller to IFL TV. “Deontay is chasing Joshua for a big payday. I don’t think he’s going to get the fight against Deontay, so he needs to come see me then,” said Miller about Whyte. “I want either Joseph Parker or Dillian Whyte. We can make it happen. He [Whyte] fought in America a couple of months ago against a taxi cab driver. No one knows who that was. If he wants a real contender, a real prospect, then he needs to come see ‘Big Baby.’ I’d beat the brakes off of him,” said Miller.
Miller vs. Whyte is a good fight for the UK. It would help make Miller a bigger name in that country if Hearn is willing to feed Whyte to him. Miller hits a lot harder than Whyte, and has much higher work rate. Whyte seems to gas out if he throws a lot of punches. There’s no comparison between the two fighters in terms of what they’re capable of doing. Miller is able to throw over 70 punches per round with major power. Whyte would be lucky to throw half as many, and even then, the chances are that he’d fade immediately.
Whyte might not be agreeable to a fight with the 6’4” Miller, as he’s been talking about wanting a title shot against Deontay Wilder for his WBC heavyweight title. Whyte clearly doesn’t deserve a title shot based on his recent wins over Dereck Chisora and Robert Helenius. Whyte looked bad in both of those fights, but he still won the fights. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants him to get the title shot against Wilder, because it helps make both of those guys more popular potentially with the British boxing public. It just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
“I’m ready to knock his head off, and put the heavyweight division on notice,” said Miller to IFL TV in talking about his match with Mariusz Wach on Saturday.
Wach is going to give the U.S fans a chance to see whether Miller has the goods to be a future world champion or not. If Miller can walk through Wach and beat him in a more impressive manner than Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin did against him, it would show the boxing fans that “Big Baby” is a guy to be reckoned with.
”He’s fought a lot of big guys throwing 20 punches per round. I’m 280, 290, throwing 70 punches per round,” said Miller about Wach. ”I got a chin, and I come forward. There’s no way you’re going to beat me with my stamina. I got punching power and the conditioning. I am going to hit him with some stuff,” said Miller.
Wach is definitely going to have problems with Miller’s punch output if he gets caught in a dog fight on Saturday. Wach likes to use his jab to setup his right hand. He’ll throw slow 1-2 combinations all night if you let him. If Miller stands in front of Wach forcing him to brawl, we could see an early stoppage either way. Wach has enough power to get Miller out of there if he can land his right hand on the button. If Miller walks into one of Wach’s right hands, he might take a little snooze. Wach isn’t a close range fighter though, and Miller is probably going to be looking to setup shop directly in front of the big 6’7” Polish heavyweight on Saturday night to force him to expend energy and defend.
“They wanted to keep AJ’s knockout percentage at 100 percent,” said Miller about Joshua’s premature 10th round stoppage win over Carlos Takam on October 28th. “He [Joshua] ain’t going to decision. I’m knocking his behind out when I get to that fight. I want to go to the UK and show the fans what I got,” said Miler.
Miller has a chance to get the Joshua fight next year if Hearn strikes out at getting Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder to agree to the money he’s going to offer them to take the fight with AJ. Given the lowball offer of 20 percent Hearn reportedly gave to Parker’s promoter David Higgins for a Joshua-Parker fight, I’d say the chances of a fight between them in 2018 is remote at best. The same goes for a fight with Wilder. He’s not going to accept a 20 percent split of the revenue against Joshua either.
“If they bring that fight to the States, they’re going to have to kill me to get that one,” said Miller about a fight with Joshua.
Joshua said this week that with the huge crowds he’s bringing in for his fights in the UK, it would be difficult to imagine him fighting in the States against anyone. As such, if and when Miller gets a fight against Joshua, it’ll almost surely take place in the UK. Miller can only hope that he doesn’t get the same referee that worked the Joshua vs. Carlos Takam fight on October 28th in Cardiff, Wales. That would be a real buzz kill if Joshua lands a few shots on Miller, and the referee jumps in to stop the fight. It would be sad, but so utterly predictable. Miller likely won’t have any other choice though if he wants the Joshua fight. It’s not as if Miller can use his B-side position to push for the Joshua fight to take place in the U.S or in a neutral venue. If Miller gets the fight with Joshua, he’s going to need to try and get him out of there early to avoid any problems like we saw with the Joshua-Takam fight.
“Compared to the last fights from what I’ve seen, I’d give the edge to Deontay,” said Miller when asked who wins the fight between Wilder and Joshua. “The reason why is he has the better footwork. He has proven to have better stamina, and his jab is a lot more accurate compared to AJ’s. AJ likes to slow it down. He’s very stiff in the lower body. So, I’d give the edge to Deontay based on his last performance. From what I’ve seen power-wise and agility-wise, I’d go for Deontay,” said Miller.
So there it is. Miller picks Wilder to beat Joshua. I think the boxing world overwhelmingly see Wilder beating Joshua right now. If you asked that question last year, the fans would likely have picked Joshua. He was fighting at a high level last year. But with Joshua’s added muscle mass in the past year, he’s now slower, and his conditioning has taken a big hit. Joshua is starting to fight more like an older heavyweight in his late 30s. All that useless muscle Joshua has packed on has hurt his game.
