When Kingsley Ibeh lost to Jared “Big Baby” Anderson, it was a harsh spotlight on what he didn’t yet have as a professional boxer.
But when Ibeh takes on Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller later this month – on the January 31 undercard of Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson – he hopes the fight will show how much he has grown since then.
Ibeh was only 18 months into his professional career when he fought Anderson in February 2021 – and before that, Ibeh had played football in college and for a short time on a professional team in Canada. So he lacked a true amateur pedigree, relying on his power and size, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing in the 270s and 280s.
Ibeh lost his second pro fight via split decision to a 4-2 foe, fought Guido Vianello to a draw in his seventh outing, and then was a mere 5-1-1 when he took on the 7-0 Anderson.
While they had the same number of fights in the paid ranks, Anderson had a better pedigree, was being featured more prominently, and got the desired result. Anderson shut out Ibeh through five rounds and stopped him in the sixth.
“I lost the fight with Anderson before I went into the ring,” Ibeh said in a press release. “I was inexperienced, especially compared to his background. I was in pursuit of greatness but was only in my eighth fight after turning pro. I lost because I didn’t give myself time to grow. I learned that boxing is more mental than physical.”
Ibeh is a 32-year-old from Nigeria and living in Phoenix, Arizona. He is now 16-2-1 (14 KOs), riding an 11 fight winning streak that includes 10 victories by way of knockout. In his most recent outing, Ibeh dispatched 21-6-1 former title challenger Gerald Washington via third-round TKO in September.
“What I’ve improved the most is in angles,” Ibeh said. “I don’t want my opponent to see my punches coming. Now I understand the game; it’s not all physical and more like a chess match. I’m also more confident because I know what to do. I even like getting hit, going toe-to-toe, because blood gets me going. It gets me excited – even if it’s my own. I know it only takes one punch to land for it to cost me a fight.”
He will be taking on an experienced and potentially dangerous opponent in Miller, who has never quite reached the heights initially expected of him.
Miller, 26-1-2 (22 KOs), infamously missed out on an opportunity to fight Anthony Joshua in June 2019 due to testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Andy Ruiz instead replaced Miller and upset Joshua to win three heavyweight titles.
That wasn’t Miller’s first time running afoul of drug tests either. He had also tested positive for a banned substance while competing as a kickboxer in 2014. And he would go on to fail another drug test in boxing ahead of a scheduled July 2020 bout with Jerry Forrest.
Miller at last returned to the ring in 2022, won three fights and then was stopped by Daniel Dubois in the final seconds of the final round of their match in December 2023. That was followed by Miller’s most recent outing, a draw with Ruiz in August 2024.
Miller is from Brooklyn; this show is taking place one borough over at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. But Ibeh’s team at Toro Promotions predicts their man will leave New York City as the triumphant hero.
“Kingsley isn’t the same fighter who fought Anderson at MGM Grand,” Whit Haydon, a matchmaker for Toro Promotions, said in the press release. “Ibeh took a tough fight. The media and fans are always complaining about fighters picking and choosing their handpicked opponents, but when a fighter takes a tough fight like Kingsley did and loses, you get punished into a long rebuild. Ibeh was relatively new to boxing [...] he was a football player. It took five long years for him to get here, and Ibeh’s plan is to leave the Big Apple as a star.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
