By Cliff Rold

 He’s got the gift of gab, power, and size. Whether its too much size remains to be seen but for now 28-year old heavyweight Jarrell Miller (18-0-1, 16 KO), 296 ½, of Brooklyn, New York, continues to win. Overwhelming 36-year old Fred Kassi (18-6-1, 10 KO), 237 ¼, of New Orleans, Louisiana, Miller forced a corner retirement after three when Kassi bowed out with a hand injury.

The referee was Michael Griffin.

Kassi had a good first round, firing quick counters as Miller came forward. Miller warmed to the task in the second, beginning to heave his heavy hands to the body and landing to the head. The sheer size of Miller, combined with the lack of power from Kassi, was quickly telling the tale.

In the third, Miller had Kassi wobbled on several occasions. To his credit, Kassi kept his feet but he had the look of a fighter on the brink. Following the third round, Kassi claimed a hand injury and retired in the corner. It was Kassi’s fourth loss in five fights and second stoppage loss in his career.

Miller, always talkative, called out pretty much the entire top of the division after the fight. After threatening to break WBC titlist Deontay Wilder’s jaw, Miller also added Chris Arreola and Dominic Breazeale, former Kassi foes, a similar fate. Then he went after the reigning world champion. “I can’t stand Tyson Fury. Every minute these guys are getting sick. I told you about tossing that salad. Now you guys got that Ebola virus. You better stop playing over there.”

He went after Wilder again as well as IBF titlist Anthony Joshua. “(Joshua) said he going to take a break now. He doing centerfold, g-string pose over there with (promoter) Eddie Hearn.” All of it with a smile, Miller is doing his part in the ring and on the microphone to get closer to seeing one of those big names on the other side of the ring. 

In bantamweight action, undefeated Antonio Nieves stayed that way but only by chance of a single point, landing on a draw verdict.

The 29-year old Nieves (16-0-2, 8 KO), 117, of Cleveland, Ohio, couldn’t quite solve the aggressive effort of 20-year old Alejandro Santiago (11-2-2, 3 KO), 117 ½, of Tijuana, Mexico. Santiago pressed and got in his shots but didn’t seem to have the power to make a definitive move against the straight shooting Nieves. Scores came in with each man getting a 96-94 nod and the third judge splitting the difference at 95-95. The referee was Charlie Fitch.

The televised opener featured a closely contest battle.

29-year old Kazakh welterweight Bakhtiar Eyubov (11-0, 10 KO), 142 ½, of Houston, Texas, was taken past the third round, all the way through a scheduled ten for the first time, just barely hanging onto his unbeaten mark with a split decision win over 35-year old Karim Mayfield (19-4-1, 11 KO), 142 ¾, of San Francisco, California. The referee was Michael Griffin.

Eyubov brought the pressure for most of the night and early that meant some eye-catching shots. As the fight wore on, his pressure meant more countering opportunities for Mayfield who, while rocked occasionally, stayed right there with the younger man. With a little more luck with the judges in a fight full of close rounds, a point deduction for a low blow against Eyubov might have mattered greatly. As it was, it simply kept the scores closer. Scores came in at 95-94 across the board with one of those tallies going to Mayfield and the other two to Eyubov. 

The loss was Mayfield’s fourth in his last five fights.

The card was televised in the US on Showtime as part of its ShoBox series, promoted by Greg Cohen Promotions and Salita Promotions.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene and a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com