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By: Sean Crose
“As of now, it’s all talk,” Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller tells me. Miller is discussing rumors that have been circulating, rumors which claim he will soon step in between the ropes to face heavyweight kingpin Anthony Joshua, in what will perhaps be Joshua’s first fight in the United States. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, was connected to Miller for a time, which led to the assertion that a Joshua fight would happen. “Eddie Hearn is a great talker,” Miller continues. “You guys in the media suck it up.” Miller intends to keep moving along with his career. So long as he keeps winning, it will be hard for the biggest names to deny him a shot at some point. “I’m not going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs,” he says.
Photo Credit: Jarrell Miller’s Twitter Account
Boxing can be a frustrating game, of course, but Miller has things to be happy about. For starters, he’s one of the more popular heavyweights in a division that’s become red hot after a long dormant stage. He did, after all, just beat France’s Johann Duhaupas via unanimous decision. “I was always trying to press for a knockout,” he says. “I’m a big guy, but I’ve got fluidity.” And for those who questioned whether he would really enter the ring weighing three hundred pounds? “This time I really was three hundred,” he tells me. And those who feel Miller can’t beat men like Joshua or fellow American Deontay Wilder? The guy couldn’t care less.
Miller is a man whose clearly comfortable with who he is. Formerly the highest paid kickboxer in America (kickboxing still remains close to his heart) the rising boxer realizes he’s “a high risk, low reward fighter.” Still, Miller makes one thing clear: “I know what my goals are.” And those goals have everything to do with making it to the top of the heavyweight heap. Cable giant Home Box Office is happy to be in the Miller business, having aired his last several fights live. “Everything seems good,” he says. “They just treated me with more respect.”
Treating people right is important for the 21-0-1 Brooklyn native. He’s known to work with children, after all, and was taking his seven year old son to the movies while we spoke. Miller is also known for supporting and befriending cancer patient Lily Weaver. Such relationships make for good press, but the friendship is legitimate in this case. “She inspires me,” he states, explaining that when he isn’t feeling as ambitious as he’d like, thinking of Hannah acts as motivation. “If we’re not here on this earth for each other,” he adds, “then what are we here for?”
“Fighter’s get a bad rap,” he says. “We’re just guys trying to make a living.”
