We already released our pick of the week on Wednesday but have decided to make an exception and give an additional pick. This will be for tonight’s Showtime-televised bout featuring undefeated heavyweight slugger Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (15-0-1, 13 KOs) and Donovan Dennis (14-3, 11 KOs). It’s an excellent matchup for the long running sho-box series with two young heavyweights squaring off. The NABA Heavyweight title will be at stake. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds and will take place at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona.
Dennis is only 28 years old but his professional boxing career has already seen multiple setbacks. Dennis fought in the World Series of Boxing which fights to count as professional fights for a boxer. Those fights don’t show on boxrec.com but are registered on fightfax which is the official record keeper for professional boxing. During his stay in the WSB he suffered one loss by way of knockout to Mario Heredia. He followed up his departure from the WSB going unbeaten in his first 10 fights. Then in stunning fashion his was stopped in round 1 by fellow unbeaten Nate Heaven in a bout aired on ESPN 2 Friday night fights. This past year he entered into the ESPN2 Boxcino Heavyweight tournament. He surprise many with his divesting one punch knockout of world ranked Razvan Cojanu in round 2. This landed him in the final where he was stopped in round 8 by tourney winner Andrey Fedosov which was his last fight eight months ago.
The 27 year old Miller has been fighting for the most part soft opposition. He did step up his last fight where he stopped (16-1) Akhror Muralimov. It should be noted that Muralimov is an undersized heavyweight listed at 5 ft 11. Miller has a decent skill set but what has been questioned is his conditioning. His weight has fluctuated throughout brief professional career. He weighed in for this fight at 274 pounds.
The winner of this fight will likely earn a world ranking by the WBA. This is huge considering how wide open and now even exciting is the heavyweight division. Miller is not in peak condition for this fight where Dennis seems very fit as he has throughout his career. The question on Dennis is his chin. The odds by some sportsbooks have Miller a hefty favorite to defeat Dennis. We are picking the heavy handed southpaw Dennis to upset Miller.
