Belize-born heavyweight boxer Jarrell Miller will be a step closer to a world title shot if he can get past Frenchman Johann Duhaupas when the pair meet at the Barclays Center in New York City on April 18.
Miller has a professional record of 20-0-1, with 18 of his victories coming via knockouts. The former kickboxer first put himself in world title contention when he won the interim WBA-BABA belt in 2016 following a win over Donovan Dennis.
Big Baby, as he likes to be called, then claimed the WBO NABO crown after stopping American Nick Guivas in the second round of their clash at the Seneca Niagra Resort Casino in New York as once against he showed his explosive power.
Arguably Miller’s best win of his professional career so far though was his success against Gerald Washington last July. The American had just recently challenged for the WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder but it was the Belize man who was dominant in the contest, eventually stopping his opponent in the eighth round.
Miller’s next challenge is against a very experienced boxer in Duhaupas. The 37-year-old has fought on 41 occasions as a professional and recently had one of his best results as he won the WBA International title. A win for the younger man may put him as the number one contender with the WBA and a world title challenge could then come as early as this summer.
Who Could Miller Meet Later In 2018?
By the end of next month, there is likely to only be two world champions in the heavyweight division as WBA and IBF champion Anthony Joshua will meet the WBO titleholder Joseph Parker in a unification contest in Cardiff, Wales. Parker is an outsider here at 5/1 to come through the tie with all three belts, while Joshua is long odds-on at 1/12 to continue his dominance since turning a pro.
Meeting Joshua would be the most lucrative option for Miller as the British boxer is a huge box office draw in the UK and around the world, therefore the tie would almost certainly be on pay-per-view television. AJ has won all 20 of his contests by knockout, with his highlight so far being his victory over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium in 2017.
The other option for Miller is to go down the WBC route where Wilder currently holds the belt. The American does have to come through a title defence against Luis Ortiz next month but he is 4/11 with the bookmakers to successfully win that clash.
Wilder has 39 victories from 39 bouts and will have his eye on the winner of the Joshua-Parker contest. If that unification tie can’t be made later this year, Miller looks his most likely challenger in the USA as he is running out of opponents this side of the Atlantic.
For now, though, the focus for Miller will be on Duhaupas as only as a victory will be good enough to keep him on track for a life-changing fight in 2018.
