Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller will face Fabio Wardley at Portman Road this Summer in a big step-up for the Brit.
Jarrell Miller fought to a draw with Andy Ruiz Jr. in his last fight on Terence Crawford‘s undercard. Before that he was stopped in the final few seconds of his valiant effort against Daniel Dubois, who proved to be just too much for ‘Big Baby’.
In an attempt to get back to winning ways, Miller is now set to face Fabio Wardley in the UK this Summer.
He revealed in a recent interview exactly how he came to hold the ‘Big Baby’ nickname, and the hilarious reason he kept it.
Jarrell Miller originally went by ‘King Kong’ but changed nicknames for one hilarious reason
In an interview with DAZN from 2018, Miller explained how his nickname came about, and why he kept it despite not being the biggest fan at first.
He said ahead of his pro debut that the man who signed him said gave him a new nickname:
“I was making my pro debut, and people used to call me ‘King Kong’, you know what I mean. He’s like ‘You don’t want to be known as no big monkey you’ll be a big American heavyweight, something that can go both ways’, so he says, ‘Listen, what about ‘Big Baby’?'”
Miller admits he was not in favor of the nickname at first: “I ain’t no god darn ‘Big Baby’.”
Whilst not a fan of the name, he allowed his team to go forward with it on his costume, and delivered a first-round knockout in his debut fight. It was the reaction from the crowd, or certain members of it, that swayed Miller on the moniker:
“All the girls were like ‘Oh my god, Big Baby!’ I was like ‘All the girls like it, I gotta keep this name’.”
Jarrell Miller may be responsible for Anthony Joshua’s first humiliating career-defeat
In 2019, Anthony Joshua took his first career defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz, who punched his own trainer, via seventh-round stoppage.
The fight was a huge upset that saw the champ’s US debut go down like a lead balloon, with the Brit down twice in the third round and twice in the seventh before the stoppage.
Ruiz was actually a late replacement, signing the contract to fight Joshua on just one month’s notice. Originally it was ‘Big Baby’ Miller, who Dillian Whyte wants to fight, that was set to face Joshua, who had prepared for his style throughout his camp.
Miller was found to have been using PEDs and was subsequently withdrawn as Joshua’s opponent, leading him to face the unexpected stand-in.
Miller is entering a must-win contest against Wardley, who has just four white-collar fights to his name. Wardley stopped Frazer Clarke in his last outing with a huge opening-round knockout.