Jarrell Miller vs. Fred Kassi headlines 8/19 ShoBox tripleheader

ShoBox is on its way to Rochester next month with a bevy of unbeaten fighters in tow. Showtime and CBS regular Jarrell Miller takes on Fred Kassi in the main event, while Nikolay Potapov and Bakhtiyar Eyubov play A-side against Antonio Nieves and Karim Mayfield, respectively.

Miller (17-0-1, 15 KO), a twenty-seven-year-old former kickboxer, has turned some heads with his sheer size, power, and impressive cardio for a man whose weight fluctuates from a little over 250 to over 280. He’s still fairly untested, his best wins thus far coming over Akhror Muralimov and Donovan Dennis.

Kassi (18-5-1, 10 KO) may not be doing quite as badly as his current 0-3-1 stretch would suggest on paper, but he’s not exactly on the rise. Following a questionable draw against Chris Arreola and a blatant robbery loss to Dominic Breazeale, he dropped a wide technical decision to Hughie Fury in April. Still, he’s the best technician Miller has ever had to deal with, so their fight ought to be at least somewhat enlightening.

Potapov (14-0-1, 6 KO) was rising steadily through the bantamweight division before drawing with Stephon Young last April in an underwhelming performance. The Russian has gone the distance in seven consecutive bouts. Weirdly, Nieves (16-0-1, 8 KO) also has a draw against Young, although he’s since won four straight over low-level competition.

Eyubov (10-0, 10 KO) and his killer dance moves beat a competent opponent for the first time last January with a third-round knockout of Jared Robinson. Mayfield (19-3-1, 11 KO), meanwhile, has lost three of his last four, but has never been stopped and those three losses came to respectable opposition in Thomas Dulorme, Emmanuel Taylor, and Dmitry Mikhaylenko.

Honestly, a pretty solid ShoBox show overall.