Jarrell Miller to fight on Nov.17

By Jim Dower: Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (22-0-1, 19 KOs) and Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24 KOs) will be battling it out for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title on November 17 at Atlantic City, New Jersey. It’s not much of a fight unfortunately, but there’s not many fighters in the WBA’s top 15 that could stand up to the power and size of Miller right now.

Oquendo is 45-years-old, hasn’t fought in four years, and is coming off of a loss to Ruslan Chagaev in his last fight in 2014. Miller fighting Oquendo for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title is a bad look. Oquendo was once a good heavyweight many years ago, but injuries, inactivity and age has done a number o his career. It’ll be a miracle for Oquendo to defeat Miller. You can’t say that it’s impossible for Oquendo to defeat Miller, but it’s highly unlikely to happen. The outcome of the fight will likely see Oquendo walked down and knocked out.

The WBA might as well give Miller the title. Ideally, it would be better if the World Boxing Association simply eliminated the WBA ‘regular’ title, because they already have a champion in that weight class in Anthony Joshua, who holds the WBA ‘Super World’ title.

Miller, 30, will be a huge favorite to defeat Oquendo. Miller isn’t considered to be in the same class as champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, but he’s among the best of the next tier down, which consists of Dillian Whyte, Kubrat Pulev, Joseph Parker, Adam Kownacki, Luis Ortiz, Dominic Breazeale, Alexander Povetkin, Dereck Chisora, Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury and Bryant Jennings.

The undercard might prove to be better than the main event, as former lightweight world champion Brandon Rios will be facing Saul Canelo Alvarez’s brother Ramon ‘Inocente’ Alvarez, former middleweight world title challenger Gabriel Rosado will be battling Luis Arias, and former three time world champion Ricky Burns will be fighting an opponent still to be determined.

Rios vs. Alvarez is going to be a nice fight for the fans. Rios can no longer cut it against the top fighters at 147, but he’s quite capable of defeating the likes of the lower level fighters at 147. Ramon Alvarez is a junior middleweight with good boxing skills, but he lacks the power and speed to compete with the best at 154.

It’s important that Miller win the WBA title, because his co-promoter Eddie Hearn wants to match him against Joshua soon. That fight is expected to take place in 2019 at some point.