By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Jarrell Miller’s commitment to beating Mariusz Wach was evident when he stepped on the New York State Athletic Commission’s scale Friday afternoon.
Brooklyn’s Miller weighed in at 283.4 pounds for their 10-round heavyweight fight Saturday night in Uniondale, New York. The 6-feet-4 Miller weighed 298¾ pounds for his last fight, a technical knockout win against Gerald Washington just 3½ months ago at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Poland’s Wach weighed a career-high 268 pounds Friday. If Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs) can beat the 6-feet-7 Wach (33-2, 17 KOs) impressively in a fight HBO will televise from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the trash-talking contender will earn consideration to become the next opponent for unbeaten British superstar Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), the IBF/IBO/WBA heavyweight champion (https://www.boxingscene.com/hearn-if-miller-beats-wach-impressively-get-joshua-next--122300).
Miller-Wach is one of three bouts HBO will air Saturday night, beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The other four fighters made weight Friday for their televised matches.
Brooklyn’s Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) weighed in at 159.6 pounds for his 12-round middleweight fight against Luis Arias. Milwaukee’s Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) got on the NYSAC’s scale at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds for the main event of HBO’s show.
Arias is a big underdog entering his fight against a former WBA middleweight champion, but the extremely confident contender continued to talk trash to Jacobs on Friday as they went face-to-face for the last time before their fight.
Also Friday, Long Island’s Cletus Seldin (20-0, 16 KOs) weighed in at 141.2 pounds for his 10-round junior welterweight fight against Roberto Ortiz (35-1-2, 26 KOs). The official weight for Mexico’s Ortiz was the same as Seldin’s, 141.2 pounds.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.