By Keith Idec
UNIONDALE, New York – Jarrell Miller doesn’t expect an Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight to take place anytime soon.
But if the undefeated, hard-hitting heavyweight champions were to meet in the foreseeable future, Miller would favor Alabama’s Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) to knock out England’s Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs). Miller thinks the 6-feet-7 Wilder’s athleticism and power would be too much for the comparatively immobile Joshua, whose chin Miller considers questionable.
Miller (20-0-1, 18 KOs) made his prediction after stopping Poland’s Mariusz Wach (33-3, 17 KOs) in the ninth round of their scheduled 12-round fight Saturday night at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
“From what I’ve seen lately, I think Deontay [would win],” Miller said. “And the reason why is it’s a wild, crazy man, does a whole bunch of windmills, and if one of them clip you, you get hurt. And AJ doesn’t really move his head. He’s really stiff, doesn’t get really low on shots, not a great counter-puncher. He does get hit by guys that are smaller, shorter and slower than Deontay. So I kind of give the edge to Deontay as of now.
“But like I said, Deontay is more the natural-looking guy, 220, an athletic-looking dude. And AJ look like a small bodybuilder, a shrinked bodybuilder. And muscles don’t help your chin, so he’s been dropped and hurt in sparring and in fights. Deontay has been hurt a couple times in sparring, but not in fights, that we can really see, you know?”
Despite all the recent talk of Joshua and Wilder fighting each other, Miller thinks they’ll face lesser opponents next. The undefeated contender from Brooklyn doesn’t expect WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) to fight Joshua or Wilder next, either.
“If you look at all these heavyweight champions that got belts right now, none of them have really got big cajones, if you look at it,” Miller said. “None of them really wanna fight another guy for a title. Watch how they attitude is. It’s more about the money for them. Joseph Parker wants money. He’s not like, ‘Oh, I wanna fight Anthony Joshua,’ or really wanna fight Deontay. Deontay’s really chasing Anthony Joshua for the money. When he got the belt, he wasn’t really trying to fight any top contenders. I’m telling you, give me any one of them and I’ll fight him. I’ve not turned down one fight yet. They told me, ‘Listen, we’ve got Wach.’ I’m like, ‘When? OK, give it to me.’ And Gerald Washington, I had 3½, four weeks notice. I’m like, ‘OK.’ ”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
