Big Fight This Weekend… Literally

Large8/02/2024 3:00 PM

Hey, fight fans... This is a boxing blog that I will present with the help of a young lady named Melanie Iglesias.

Similar to Melanie, there is a STACKED card this weekend, starting at 8 PM EST Saturday on DAZN.

On top of the Main Event, which features an athlete who many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world (Terrence Crawford), DAZN also has Pitbull Cruz, Jared Anderson, David Morrell, and Andy Cruz all lacing them up.

But I don’t care about any of those fights because the big boys are also throwing down.

Which big boys?… I’m glad you asked.

The chronically obese Mexican heavyweight, Andy ‘The Destroyer’ Ruiz is taking on the man who “accidentally” made Andy a household name, Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller.

How did Jarrell make Andy famous?… I’m glad you asked again.

Back in 2019, Miller popped positive for PEDs a few months before his fight with the then-unified heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua. The fight was immediately canceled and Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, tried desperately to find a replacement who would fill in against the 6’7” undefeated Joshua on short notice. Hearn reportedly spoke to 16 heavyweights in the space of 24 hours after Miller was taken off the card. Finally, a heavyset Mexican named Andy Ruiz said, “Fuck it… I’ll fight him” and the rest became history after Ruiz knocked Joshua out, pulling off the biggest heavyweight upset since Tyson lost to Buster Douglas in 1990. The surprising win cemented the zoftig Andy Ruiz as the greatest (and almost only) Mexican heavyweight champion of all time.

Giphy Images.

But Ruiz’s time in the sun came to an abrupt end six months later when Joshua beat Ruiz in the rematch. Since then, Andy has bounced around looking for another title shot. And on that road to another belt, ‘The Destroyer’ now has to face the man whose former indiscretions put him in the spotlight in the first place, the Rubenesque Jarrell Miller.

Richard Pelham. Getty Images.

I sat down with Jarrell last week in Philly alongside Boots Ennis to talk about EVERYTHING UNDER THE FUCKING SUN before Saturday’s bout, and I believe we all became fast friends.

And even though I mentioned several more recognizable fighters on the undercard, this matchup intrigues me more than all others because I love it when two fucking monsters meet in the middle of the ring and slug it out until one of them hits the canvas, and that is what I am expecting here.

("No kicking, Melanie.")

Andy is arguably the more talented fighter, but he hasn’t fought in nearly two years and looked less-than-impressive in those last couple of outings before his layoff. Meanwhile, Miller has stayed more active and has gotten himself into the best shape of his career after losing to Daniel Dubois in a fucking SLUGFEST in December.

Richard Pelham. Getty Images.

DraftKings (#DKPartner) has this one pretty close by boxing’s standards… Andy is a 3-1 favorite, but Miller is a VERY live dog at +265… Might be worth a look.

Either way, curl up in a pink silk robe and check out Miller’s interview… And enjoy the fights this weekend