By Tim Royner: Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller’ says he can’t wait to shut the mouths o his critics after he knocks out Anthony Joshua shortly. Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) especially wants to shut Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s trap because he’s had a lot to say about him since 2019. Hearn wasn’t happy how Ruiz ruined his chances to match him against AJ.
It’s difficult to understand why Miller has bad blood with Hearn since he’s the one that picked him out of the hat in the first place to face Joshua in 2019. If not for Miller failing a drug test for the fight, he would have faced Joshua and made millions.
Hearn went to bat for Miller in the first place in choosing him, and he wasn’t bothered by boxing fans ridiculing his choice. After Miller tested positive for banned substances, Hearn had no option but to pull him out of the AJ fight.
Miller, 31, wants to redeem himself, and he feels he’s in an excellent position to do that now he’s signed with Top Rank. Miller inked with Top Rank recently, and he had planned on fighting on May 30th until the Pandemic ruined things.
The 300+ pound ‘Big Baby’ Miller states that he’ll be fighting in the co-feature spot on the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder card in October or whenever it takes place. Miller expects to be challenging Fury for his WBC heavyweight title in short order.
After Fury gets done disposing of Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) for a second time, he’s not going to go back to fighting nobodies. Joshua will also be looking at Miller’s way at some point for a fight after he runs out of opponents.
Jarrell talks about Top Rank signing him
“I was going to be on the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder undercard, but Dimitry Salita f*** that up,” said Miller to IFL TV. “We were looking at May 30th, but then the Pandemic happened.
“We’re kind of back to square one again. Bob [Arum] reached out plenty of times,” said Miller when asked why he signed with Top Rank Boxing.
“It wasn’t Bob himself. It was people in his team. We were still talking to Eddie Hearn to some extent. But when I finally got face to face with Bob, Bob came up with a game plan. He said, ‘This is what we know.
“We know about your situation.’ It made more sense as far as a game plan strategy. So I went with him. It made more sense paper-wise and money-wise, and I knew Tyson Fury was going to beat Deontay. The way he talks and his demeanor,” said Miller.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is looking to strike gold again in signing another troubled heavyweight that he can rebuild. Arum did an excellent job of returning Fury to the form that he had in 2015.
When Arum inked Fury, he was an out of shape heavyweight, who a lot of boxing fans had serious questions about. Since then, Fury had picked up four impressive wins and captured the WBC heavyweight title.
If nothing else, Miller will be a useful cog for Arum to stick into the machinery in the heavyweight division to match against Fury and potentially Joshua as well.
Miller expects Joshua to fight him
“Hell yeah,” said Miller when asked if he’d still like to fight Anthony Joshua. “Let me put it like this—a lot of people that are afraid of things run away from them. I got to redeem myself in the public eye, but I know what happened and what went wrong.
“Once I whoop his a**, everyone is going to shut the f*** up, especially Eddie Hearn,” said Miller on his prediction that boxing fans will stop criticizing him after he beats Joshua. “I want him [Hearn] to eat his words so bad. I’m not going to sit here and go blah-blah-blah. F*** that. Put me in the ring.
“Most definitely,” said Miller when asked if he’s going to get another opportunity to fight Joshua. “After this third Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury fight happens, we’re talking about being a co-main event on that card, right? Boom! Who is Tyson Fury going to fight next? How many bull-s*** opponents are UK fans going to take from AJ?
“Nobody knows about [Kubrat] Pulev. Nobody knows about Pulev. I think Pulev is a good opponent, but it all depends. I’m not going to talk too much, but the proof is in the pudding. You all want to see a Super Hero get the Villian. So f*** it, I’ll be the Villian. I’ve been training,” said Miller.
The only way Joshua will fight Miller is if he’s able to turn his career around. That means Miller is going to need to win the fights that Top Rank sets up for him, including eventually, Tyson Fury. If Miller gets embarrassed by Fury, then there won’t be any point in Joshua throwing him a bone to give him a title shot.
