By Allan Fox: Heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller will be in action this Saturday night on November 17 on DAZN against Bogdan Dinu in a 12-round headliner fight at the Kansas Star Arena, Mulvane, Kansas.
Watch Miller vs Dinu LIVE on DAZN
This is another disappointing match-up for ‘Big Baby’ Miller by his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA. Hearn wants to have Miller win the World Boxing Association ‘regular’ title, and then match him against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in the second half of 2019 in an in house Matchroom fight.
The 320 lb Miller would be ideal for undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk’s first fight at heavyweight, but that’s not likely to happen. Hearn is saving the 6’4″ Miller for Joshua to defeat. Miller is still undefeated, he has a big mouth, and he’s making himself know with the casual boxing fans in the U.S. It’s perfect for Joshua to make some inroads with the American boxing fans by being seen knocking out Miller. Usyk has the skills to easily beat Miller, but he won’t get a chance until after Joshua defeats him.
Dinu (18-0, 14 KOs) is rated #9 with the WBA. He’s not done anything with his career to make him a compelling opponent for Miller to fight on DAZN, but then again that’s par for the course. Miller’s last five fights have come against lesser opposition in 41-year-old Tomasz Adamek
Miller, 30, wants to fight for the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title, which is still in the possession of Manuel Charr. Once that belt is stripped from the German based fighter, Miller be able to fight for the belt.
Miller’s last fight against an over-the-hill Adamek last month on October 6th made him look good, and helped redeem him in some ways after his poor performance against Johann Duhaupas last April. Miller looked like someone will never win a world title in struggling to defeat Duhaupas, and it was the kind of performance that makes you wonder what Eddie Hearn was thinking in signing him to his Matchroom Boxing USA stable. Of course, when you match Miller against the likes of Dinu and 41-year-old Adamek, it it puts himself in the position where he looks great.
Miller (22-0-1, 19 KO) just fought on Oct. 6, taking care of faded former contender Tomasz Adamek with a second round knockout in Chicago. After that easy work, he wanted to come back quickly, and he is.
“Bogdan is aggressive but that’s against guys that want to survive,” Miller said. “He’s never fought someone like me, who is going to be the aggressor in the fight. He’s light and he’s not a heavy puncher, and I’m going to be coming forward, throwing bombs and mixing it up, it’s going to be completely new to him,” Miller said.
If the 6’5″ Bogdan can throw fast shots, move out of range of Miller’s shots and keep him from landing his big bombs, he can win. It’s not likely to happen though. Dinu lacks the experience to be fighting someone like Miller. It doesn’t matter that Miller is a flawed heavyweight with a weight problem. It’s a big step up in class that Dinu isn’t ready for.
Miller needs a solid win over a quality opponent, as that’s the one that’s missing from his career. Miller has talked himself into notoriety in his fights on Showtime, but he’ still not beaten anyone good yet. The way that Miller fought against former WBC champion Deontay Wilder victim Duhaupas was a bad sign. Miller wants to fight Dillian Whyte, but he’s not going to get a shot at fighting at him until he faces Joshua.
Prediction
The 6’5″ has size, but he lacks the power and the mobility to keep the 320 lb Miller off of him. This fight should be an easier one than Miller’s recent 2nd round knockdown of Tomasz Adamak. Dinu lacks the mobility to get away from Miller, and that’s going to make it easy on him. Miller should get Dinu out of there by the 4th. Dinu likes to slug, and that’ll be his undoing in this fight. He won’t even try and get away from Miller.