Anthony Joshua v Jarrell Miller: Everything you need to know and odds
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Two heavyweights set to collide in June
1st June 2019. Remember the date. Because that’s when Anthony Joshua will take on New Yorker Jarrell Miller at Madison Square Garden in his first overseas bout.
AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn completed a deal for a fight between the WBA, IBF and WBO Heavyweight champion and the American challenger on 13th February.
So what is there to know about 30-year-old Brooklyn-born bruiser? And what are the odds ahead of the big fight? We’ve got everything you need to know below.
23-0-1 record
It’s not just Joshua who’ll put his unbeaten record on the line here. Miller is undefeated too. ‘Big Baby’ is 23-0-1 so far in a career which began all the way back in 2009. AJ’s biggest achievement back then was winning the Haringey Box Cup.
The 6ft 4in orthodox fighter has been forced the distance just four times, most recently in April 2018 against Frenchman Johann Duhaupas.
Knockout victories 19 and 20 of his professional career against Tomasz Adamek and Bogdan Dinu have landed him a shot at Joshua. But the British champion represents an altogether tougher test.
Kickboxing background
Miller is an all-action fighter. That stems from his kickboxing background. Joshua’s challenger took up the sport as a teenager and went on to rack up a 19-0 record as a professional on New York’s Muay Thai kickboxing scene.
After signing for K-1 – the world’s premier kickboxing organisation – Miller went on to win a further two fights before packing up the sport with a 21-2 record. The then-22-year-old soon began taking boxing more seriously and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fighting style
Big Baby’s kickboxing background lends itself to a more aggressive style in the ring. There’s a reason why the American specialises almost exclusively in knockouts.
Indeed, Miller has developed a reputation for being a fighter who trades on stamina rather than craft or guile. It’s death by a thousand cuts rather than a calculated blow to take down an opponent. His victory over Duhaupas in March last year is case in point.
Miller threw 782 punches against his French opponent, only 261 (33.4%) of which landed. That’s an incredible level of stamina for a heavyweight and something which could land him in hot water against a more experienced boxer like Joshua.
Fight odds
Our man on the trading floor Tommy Young reckons there’s only one way Miller can win. He said, “Miller’s only chance is to catch Joshua early. If it goes late into the fight he will gas and get brutally stopped.”
With that in mind, we have Joshua as the 1/8 favourite on his first stateside soiree. Miller is out at 5/1, with a Draw or Technical Draw at 25/1. With the American’s best chance lying in the opening exchanges, we go 80/1 about an Round 1 KO for Miller, with 66/1 about Round 2.
Joshua is a much shorter price. The Brit heavyweight is 25/1 in Round 1, 20/1 in Round 2 or 18/1 in Round 3. Alternatively it’s 12/5 for the fight to go the distance and AJ to Win on Points.
Click here for the latest Joshua v Miller odds.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
