…but How About A Real Fight For “Big Baby”?
Unbeaten New Yorker Jarrell Miller calls himself “Big Baby,” but in last night’s fight/stroke slaughter, the heavyweight contender should perhaps have been referred to as “Big Bully.” Weighing a hefty 317 pounds – some 90 pounds more than his opponent – Miller had no trouble whatsoever in beating down former 175 and 200 pound champ Tomasz Adamek.
Fans groaned when last night’s fight, which went out on DAZN, was first announced, and the criticism was fair. It was all over after less than a minute of round-two, as Miller pummelled 41 year old Adamek, dropping him in round-two and forcing the referee to stop the mismatch. What was the point? It’s now time for Miller, 22-0-1(19) to take a step up in quality of opposition. As for Adamek, the now 53-6(31) former champ has no sensible option other than to call it a career and get out.
A fast guy for such a big guy, Miller does seem to carry his weight well enough, but the Brooklyn man has yet to face a genuine top-10 contender. Decent wins over the likes of Johan Duhaupas, Mariusz Wach and Gerald Washington look okay on Miller’s resume, but at this point in time Miller could be referred to as a fighter who talks greater than he has yet actually fought. Miller called again for a shot at WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua, but has he earned a shot? Miller, along with his co-promoter Dmitry Salita, says yes, but fans remain unconvinced.
Salita told RingTV.com how he feels the Joshua fight “will come” but that his man may fight again before the end of the year. After such an easy night’s work against Adamek, Miller would not be pushing things too hard if he did box again here in 2018. There has been talk of Miller facing Fres Oquendo for the vacant WBA “regular” belt, and, as crazy as it may seem (in fact it seems really crazy) Oquendo would arguably be Miller’s most testing fight yet.
Oquendo has been about as active as a volcano, sure, but he has reportedly kept himself in the gym and he has plenty of world class experience. Of course Miller would be a huge favourite to beat Oquendo, but would this fight be any worse a mismatch than what we saw last night?
It seems we will have to wait until next year before we see Miller in a fight against a genuine world class, top-10 rival.
