JOSHUA-MILLER: GOOD OR BAD?
Matt Christie examines the pros and cons of the heavyweight leader’s latest assignment
IT’S official. After what feels like a lifetime’s worth of i-dotting and t-crossing, Jarrell Miller – AKA The Big Baby – has been confirmed as Anthony Joshua’s next challenger. They will clash at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 1, marking the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion’s American debut.
What does Boxing News think about this? Well, firstly, Miller is not Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury. Secondly, he’s not Dillian Whyte. Nor is he Kubrat Pulev. Or Oleksandr Usyk. Or even a comebacking Wladimir Klitschko. Yes, Miller is the least appealing opponent of all who have been rumoured over the last 12 months.
The problem with Miller is he hasn’t really done anything to merit a shot at the title, bar confronting Joshua when the champion made a trip to the US purely for publicity purposes. He got in Joshua’s face, he shouted a lot and – kerching – world heavyweight title fight in the bag.
If you can sell a fight well enough for the public to buy it then you’re halfway there. By the time Miller is in full-on villain mode and going berserk whenever a camera is close, plenty will be converted, perhaps even you. That Miller – who has ballooned approximately 30lbs (from 283 to 315) in the space of one year – has scored the odd eye-catching knockout, and is American, just about edged him over the line in what had become a one-man race for Joshua.
But let’s not lose sight of who Miller has been knocking out. Pick one from Gerald Washington, Mariusz Wach or Johan Duhaupas as his most noteworthy victim. Each of them walloped into submission before; none comparable to the threat from Joshua in any way shape or form. While we shouldn’t completely dismiss that old heavyweight adage – This is heavyweight boxing, so anything can happen – it’s hard to see the motives here beyond it’s about time Joshua fought in America.
To make the story worse, this follows the long and winding failure to get someone better in the ring with ‘AJ’. WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury were invited but they were locked into negotiations surrounding their own ongoing rivalry – a rivalry that began purely because of failed Joshua-wilder negotiations, don’t forget – and Dillian Whyte, like Wilder and Fury, felt he was being undervalued when he was offered the chance last month.
While it’s been widely reported that DAZN are willing to throw mind-boggling amounts of money at Joshua-miller, making this Joshua’s biggest ever payday, the streaming service’s involvement in the Briton’s development doesn’t appear to have made things easy for Eddie Hearn to map out the best route for his heavyweight superstar. Since defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, it has all been slightly anticlimactic. The stage was well and truly set on that unforgettable Wembley night and, though the WBO title-winning victory over Joseph Parker and beatdown of Alexander Povetkin were arguably more credible, it’s Wilder and Fury who shared the most noteworthy heavyweight
THIS FOLLOWS THE LONG AND WINDING FAILURE TO GET SOMEONE BETTER
contest since.
Given the events of this last week – Fury signing a massive exclusive deal with ESPN – both Joshua and Wilder may wonder if they should have taken the bull by the horns and just fought each other when the chance was there.
But all is not lost. Joshua is still only 29 and, if you examine what he’s achieved in 22 fights, he’s made seriously impressive progress. His purse here is enormous, he’s worked tirelessly to be in such a position, and no one should begrudge him his reward. This is not the first world heavyweight title ‘gimme’ in history and it won’t be the last. In fact, if you look at some of the challengers fighting for ‘world’ titles in other divisions, Miller is far from the worst.
And when one considers that Joshua has beaten Whyte, Klitschko, Dominic Breazeale, Povetkin, Carlos Takam and Parker since 2015, it’s easy to wonder if we’re being too harsh on the latest development. Above all, Joshua’s desire to achieve all he can in boxing should not be questioned. The heavyweight landscape is certainly in the best shape it’s been in a while – he was the leading architect of that – and all it needs now is an undisputed leader to take control.
Common sense should tell us that Joshua, by virtue of his three belts, is the closest the division has to such. In the end, if he keeps his titles, bigger and better names than Miller will need to go through him to get them. For now though, with all the money and broadcasters and promoters and egos and belts, the division is in something of a ceasefire; which is a great shame when one considers the artillery out there.