Jarrell Miller 304 pounds for Johann Duhaupas fight

By Boxing News - 04/28/2018 - Comments

Image: Jarrell Miller 304 pounds for Johann Duhaupas fight

By Jeff Aranow: Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (20-0-1, 18 KOs) weighed in at the heaviest of his career at 304 ¼ pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for tonight’s 12 round match-up against France’s Johann Duhaupas (37-4, 24 KOs) for their heavyweight fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

With Miller eating his way to 304 lbs., we could see an upset tonight in their fight on HBO Boxing. When the fight was first signed, Miller, 29, was considered the clear favorite to defeat the 6’5” former heavyweight world title challenger Duhaupas, who has lost each time he’s taken a step up in class during his career against better opposition like WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, Alexander Povetkin, Erkan Teper and Francesco Pianeta.

Here are Miller’s weights in his last 10 fights:

• 283 – Mariusz Wach

• 298 – Gerald Washington

• 296 – Fred Kassi

• 283 – Nick Guivas

• 274 – Donovan Dennis

• 280 – Akhror Muralimov

• 278 – Excell Holmes

• 272 – Damon McCreary

• 283 – Raymond Ochieng

• 281 – Aaron Kinch

What’s clear to see is Miller’s weight has been rising for the last two years of his career, and that’s not a good sign. Miller weighed 252 lbs. for his pro debut in 2009, and he was effective at that weight. For some reason, Miller has eaten his way up to over 300 lbs. now, and you can’t say its muscle. No one gains 20+ pounds of muscle in five months unless you’re a bodybuilder.

A fighter can bulk up 20 lbs. in five months, but it’s not going to be pure muscle. It’s likely that Miller has put on a 3 or 4 lbs. of actual muscle since his last fight with Wach last November. The remaining weight is likely just fat that Miller has packed on by him eating more. Miller’s 20 lb. weight gain from his last fight isn’t a huge amount, nut when you factor in that he’s now over 300 pounds, it’s cause for concern.

There aren’t too many heavyweights in the division that are effective at 300 pounds, and Miller is at 304, which is a career high for him. Miller is a slow plodder, who walks down his opponents and looks to pound away at them on the inside. Miller counts on his opposition not having a good jab, and not being able to move around the ring to avoid being trapped. A classic heavyweight like Lennox Lewis or Larry Holmes would be a nightmare for Miller, because they both possessed good jabs, and were able to move enough to keep slow plodders off them.

Miller and Duhaupas will be the co-feature bout on the undercard of the WBA middleweight title eliminator match between former IBF 160 lb. champion Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs (33-2, 29 KOs) and Maciej Suleck (26-0, 10 KOs). If Miller loses to Duhaupas, it will give the boxing fans something to talk about before the main event between Jacobs and Sulecki.

Miller coming into the fight at 304 pounds isn’t helping his chances of beating Duhaupas, even though he complains that he’s weak when he’s below 300 lbs. Miller might be a little more powerful when he’s near 300 lbs., but he’s also slow and extremely hittable.

Gerald Washington hit Miller with everything but the kitchen sink in the 5th round of their fight last year in July, and the only reason he stopped hitting him is because he got tired. If Washington had a good engine, he probably would have knocked Miller out in the 5th, because he was literally hitting him at will with shots.

Miller was getting hit with everything Washington threw at him. In watching that round, it’s easy to believe the rumors that Deontay Wilder badly hurt Miller in sparring in the past. Miller is too easy to hit. He can get away with it when he’s fighting weaker punchers, but when he faces the likes of Wilder or Joshua, he’s not going to last long. I guess it won’t matter though. With the payday Miller will get fighting Joshua, it’ll be a win-win for him even if he loses.

Miller needs to think about his long-term health. It’s not a good idea to be over 300 lbs. Miller would do well to get down to the 250s so that can have a longer career and improve his longevity.
At least Miller will have a good excuse if he loses tonight. He can blame on him making the decision to put on 21 pounds from his last fight weight of 283 lbs. against Mariuz Wach last November.

If Miller wins this fight, he has the chance of getting a major payday fight against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Even if Miller doesn’t get the fight with Joshua, he’ll stay in the running for an eventual fight with him. The kind of money Miller can make against Joshua would set him up for life where he doesn’t need to ever work again if he’s smart with his money and doesn’t blow it all.

Duhaupas, 37, wants to be the one that gets the Joshua fight, and he likely is pleased at seeing how heavy Miller has come in for this fight.

“I’m very confident because I have [a] lot of experience from my previous fights,” Duhaupas said via ESPN.com. “I’ve had really great preparation. I’m ready, and I can beat Miller. He thinks he will beat me easy and then face Joshua. I am preparing in the United States. I am ready to go.”

It’s hard to imagine Joshua giving Duhaupas a title shot if he gets past Miller tonight. I doubt that Joshua will. You can argue that the only reasons Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing is interested in matching him against the 6’4” Miller is because he co-promotes him, he’s unbeaten and he does a decent job of creating hype about his fights with his trash talking.

The boxing public doesn’t pay much attention to Miller’s trash talking about his fights, because he’s always facing weak opposition and not quality guys like Alexander Povetkin, Wilder, Joshua, Kubrat Pulev and Dillian Whyte. You’ll still be able to say that after tonight’s fight. Miller is facing a guy in Duhaupas who has been knocked out by Povetkin and Wilder in the not so distant past.

If Duhaupas stays on the outside, uses his jab, keeps his guard up, and moves around the ring, he could win tonight. Although Miller has fought tall fighters in the past in 6’7” Wach and 6’7” Washington, those guys didn’t possess the boxing skills and stamina to go along with their huge size. Washington was able to walk them down easily and work hem over on the inside. Duhaupas has more talent than those fighters. Duhaupas will need to use movement tonight and make sure he jabs frequently for him to have a chance of winning.

Joshua’s promoter Hearn is VERY interested in matching him against Miller if the American looks sensational tonight, and if things don’t work out with the negotiations between AJ and Deontay Wilder. Hearn is trying to negotiate a fight between those two heavyweights after being offered $50 million by Wilder’s management for the Joshua fight. Hearn is skeptical that the offer is real, but Wilder’s management maintains that it is.

”Jarrell Miller against Joshua is a fight we’re very interested in,” Hearn said to ESPN.com. “If we’re going to come to America, that’s a fight that would definitely appeal to us. If he has a commanding performance against Duhaupas, why not make that fight happen?”

The World Boxing Association has already ordered the Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin fight, but for some reason, Hearn is not too thrilled at the idea of making that fight.