Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York - Jarrell Miller remained unbeaten and made his case for a potential shot at heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua by winning a unanimous decision against Johann Duhaupas.
In the main event, Daniel Jacobs won a unanimous decision over Maciej Sulecki on Saturday night, strengthening his hopes of getting another middleweight title shot. Jacobs scored a 12th-round knockdown and pulled out a competitive fight, winning by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112.
The 304-pound ”Big Baby” won 119-109 on two judges’ cards and 117-111 on the other. He improved to 21-0-1 in just his fourth fight that didn’t end in a stoppage.
He sure tried, though, pounding away with power shots throughout the fight that had swelling all around Duhaupas’ eyes in the final rounds.
”He was a tough, durable fighter,” Miller said. ”I thought I could get him out of there earlier but he ate all my punches, even the ones I threw with bad intentions.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn discussed the possibility of having Joshua, holder of four heavyweight title belts, face Miller next, rather than a unification bout against Deontay Wilder, in what would be his first fight outside of his native Britain.
”I’m ready for Anthony Joshua,” Miller said. ”Let’s bring him to Brooklyn and show him how we do it.”
The pressure was on Miller to fight and entertain well to look worthy of the matchup, and he was up to the task. He came to the ring in a ”Black Panther” mask and promptly began pounding Duhaupas (37-5) with an array of punches, trapping his nearly 60-pounds-lighter opponent against the ropes and crouching low to go to the body or get good leverage to fire uppercuts.
The brash big man said he wants the Joshua fight but made it clear he will have other options.
”I’m not going to sit here and sit on my knees and beg,” he said.
2023-10-20 22:16:32
