Miller is back to being the #1 WBA contender after Itauma's loss!

Jarrell Miller becomes the #1 WBA contender after Itauma's loss, and he is hungry, pun intended, for Murat Gassiev.

I know people will be screaming, "We don't want this fight, we want unifications!" And don't get me wrong, I want unifications too, but I also want to see good and fun fights.

I think the majority of people agree that Gassiev is the weakest champion of the four. Even if you're a Gassiev fan, hopefully we can agree that he doesn't have a win that really holds much weight in the current heavyweight division. So I think the Miller fight could actually help the championship picture. It gives Gassiev a chance to get a statement win and prove to the doubters that he can handle a challenging matchup. Or we get a better champion in Miller, who is a 300-pound man throwing 1,000 punches in a fight.

Now, don't get me wrong: win or lose, either man would probably still be rated as the weakest champion. But if we get this title fight first, we'll understand the stakes a lot better when a unification eventually happens. The boxing audience could say, "Oh, that's the guy who knocked out Miller," or, "That's the guy who became the #1 WBC contender and beat Gassiev."

What would a Gassiev win do for any of the other champions? They get another belt, sure, but there's not much context behind the win. That's why I actually want to see this fight happen. Just my two cents on the fight and why I want to see it.

I also want to share funny Instagram posts from Miller before I end my post:

(Miller reacts to Itauma's loss)
https://www.instagram.com/bigbabymiller/reel/DcpQyxHuSjC/

(Miller's AI masterpieces)
https://www.instagram.com/bigbabymiller/reel/DcyR9W4O4QG/

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Good way of summarizing my post. This is a fight I want to see happen; a Russia vs USA grudge match.

 

I think anyone with two eyeballs thought Miller won that Ruiz fight. Miller in the "3 Kings era" definitely had a pretty good resume, all things considered, due to the fact that it was a weak era. Now, I do agree he doesn't have a great resume leading up to this fight, but people last weekend were stoked for the Itauma fight, and Itauma has a considerably worse resume than Miller.

But let's look at this historically. Toney Tucker beat Broad (which was a good win), Jaco, a shot Young, and Eddie Lopez, and that's it; and he still got a shot at the IBF title. Jose Roman fought nobody to get a shot at THE CHAMPION in Foreman. Vaughn Bean fought no one to get a title shot against Moorer. Kali Meehan fought virtually no one and actually lost to Danny Williams before fighting for a title. Wepner beat a shot Ernie Terrell, who wasn't all that to begin with, to fight THE GREATEST. Don't even get me started on Richard Dunn and Coopman.

Now, I'm not saying that because historically guys who didn't earn a title shot got fights, Miller's fight with Gassiev is automatically okay. But let's be honest. Miller's resume leading up to a title shot would either be considered average or slightly below average for the average challenger. As boxing fans, we also tend to remember only the greatest title fights in history. But even if you're fully into the resume argument, let's be real: do people really want Gassiev to fight, say, Ajagba, who has a better resume than Miller, instead of Miller? No.

Miller provides a good test for Gassiev, who is often very tentative. To see one of the best heavyweights when it comes to relentless pressure go after him, I'd say it's probably one of the best defenses Gassiev could make in the division.