One of the baddest men on the planet is set to make his USA debut as Anthony”AJ” Joshua stands toe to toe with Jarrell”Big Baby” Miller in Madison Square Garden on June 1. Joshua is defending his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles, and is a -850 preferred to retain his names, while Miller is coming back as a +525 underdog. Both hitters will enter the ring with records.
Odds Analysis
Miller has been a massive favored in his last eight fights, closing as a four-digit favored in six of these bouts, together with his lowest chances being -250 when he battled Gerald Washington in July 2017 — a struggle Miller won via eighth-round retirement.
Meanwhile, Joshua has been a favored in each of his past seven scraps and his odds for this battle are right across the average with his largest odds being when he battled Eric Molina (-4000). The tightest odds AJ has had was when he fought Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA and IBO heavyweight straps — that the England native closed at -200 for that bout.
AJ retains three of the four major heavyweight titles and, in the age of 29, he’s in the prime of his career so that it comes as no surprise that he is a big favorite to beat Big Baby, who is making a big jump in competition.
How will this fight perform?
Joshua (-850) is placing his perfect 22-0 record on the line, coming off an impressive seventh-round TKO victory over Alexander Povetkin in September of this past year. Before that hit victory, AJ went to the judges’ scorecards for the first time in his professional career with Joseph Parker, snapping his streak of 20 straight wins by T/KO.
The Brit always pressures his opponents, taking the middle of this ring and slowly backing down them looking to land his strong right hand. Joshua does a fantastic job feeling his selection with his long left jab he works well behind, once more seeking to land his thunderous right. Additionally, he’s got a fantastic ability at judging distances and will sit just outside his competitors’ scope but close enough that he can spring forward with a counterattack.
Miller (+525) is also seeking to remain undefeated in his professional career, with only four conflicts going the distance, among them end in a draw after four rounds in 2013. Of Enormous Baby’s 23 specialist wins, 20 have been by knockout, including his last two. The New York native went the full 12 rounds with Johann Duhaupas in April of last year, ending his string of nine consecutive bouts with knockout victories.
The orthodox fighter uses his big frame to walk down his enemies looking for a chance to shoot his heavy right hand. Big Baby has terrifying knockout power in his hands, but his cries are slow and that he lunges ahead behind his left jab to close the space.
AJ is obviously the athletic boxer and he will have to use that rate and movement to pick apart Miller from the outside before he can locate his openings to perform harm. Meanwhile, Big Baby is going to have to put himself in actual danger to overcome the reach disadvantage he is likely to confront and get in close to let his hands fly. In general, I think that AJ is just going to be too hard to hit and ought to be in a position to handle this battle easily.
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