Eddie Hearn states opponent he would like Jarrell Miller to next face.
There are not nearly as many American heavyweights as there used to be. Once dominated by fighters from the United States, the heavyweight division now features only a few ranked fighters from America across the four major organisations.
For a time, Jared Anderson looked to fill the U.S.-shaped void in the division, but his beatdown at the hands of Martin Bakole shifted attention over to Richard Torrez Jr., who is set for a step-up against Frank Sanchez in May.
Whether or not Torrez turns out to be the real deal remains to be seen, but when it comes to character and controversy, only one American heavyweight truly stands out.
That would be Jarrell Miller, the big-talking “Big Baby” who currently stands as America’s most colourful heavyweight contender.
Having tested positive multiple times for performance-enhancing drugs, Miller famously fumbled a huge unified title fight with Anthony Joshua in 2019.
More recently, he went viral on social media during his win over Kingsley Ibeh, a fight in which Miller’s hairpiece was punched off of his head.
On Saturday, Miller returned to the ring to defeat Lenier Pero, Cuba’s then-unbeaten former 2016 Olympic gold medallist. In that fight, Miller gained the distinction of being one of only ten heavyweights in history to throw over 1,000 punches.
While Eddie Hearn stated afterwards that he would like to see Miller face off against Deontay Wilder in an all-American showdown, he has now put forward an alternate option for the brash Brooklynite.
In Australia for the WBC interim female super-bantamweight title fight between Skye Nicolson and Mariah Turner, Hearn did an interview with Fox Sports Australia.
Speaking on some of the key players in the Australian boxing scene, Hearn brought up heavyweights Justis Huni and Teremoana Teremoana, the latter of whom featured on the Nicolson-Turner undercard.
When asked where Huni in particular fits in at the moment, Hearn replied, “For me, you know, we wanna bring Justis Huni back on Foxtel with a big fight with Mick Francis and everybody around July time. He’s comin’ off a good win at Tottenham against Frazer Clarke. He’s ready. Like, he wants to be rolled into a big fight.
“We just had Jarrell Miller win in Las Vegas. I think Justis Huni against Jarrell Miller–big, loudmouth American comin’ over–it’s the kind of fight that’s gonna ignite the interest of the people here.”
Hearn then stated that a title fight between Huni and Teremoana somewhere down the line was “inevitable”, but it’s likely that the mention of Miller vs. Huni attracted more attention.
Huni is a very tidy boxer who has caused issues for the likes of current WBO champion Fabio Wardley, while Miller is a big and active fighter who just wants to brawl.
It was actually Miller who Huni stepped in as a replacement for when he fought Wardley. Wardley found out about the style difference between the two when Huni throroughly outboxed him until he knocked the Australian out with one punch.
The clever and modest Huni against the brawling braggart in Miller is the type of pairing that plenty would love to see, and we may just get to if Hearn’s words prove true.
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