Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) stole the show on Saturday night, putting on the most entertaining victory on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card, stopping Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) in the tenth round at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dubois’ nickname, ‘Dynamite,’ was fitting for the kind of performance he had tonight, exploding on Miller after a shaky start in the early rounds.
There were some who thought that Big Baby would walk Dubois down and force him to quit as he’d done in his fights against Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce.
Early doubts and growing confidence
Dubois, 26, seemed anxious early on from the pressure that Miller was applying, but as the fight wore on, he got comfortable and dished out a lot of punishment on ‘Big Baby’ that took.
In the eighth round, Dubois seemed to get new energy, as he looked fresh, and took the fight to the exhausted Miller, unloading huge shots the entire round. From there, it was all Dubois, as he dished out a lot of punishment against Miller.
In the tenth round, Dubois went all out, hitting Miller with salvos of punches, landing blows that would have destroyed any heavyweight on the planet.
Referee Steps In
With eight seconds to go, the referee stepped in and waved it off due to Miller getting the daylights beaten out of him by Dubois. The time of the stoppage was at 2:52 of round ten.
“This occasion, it really matters. That I can take punishment and dish it out, that’s what it was about tonight,” said Daniel Dubois to TNT Sports Boxing on what he proved tonight in his victory over Jarrell Miller.
“Big Baby came to work, and it was a great fight. Whatever I was lacking, I feel like I gained it tonight, and that was experience,” said Dubois.
Dubois redemption
“He’s back at the big table, and now we’ll be looking for some big fights for him next year,” said Promoter Rank Warren about ‘Dynamite’ Dubois. “Remember, he’s gone back to back camps in significant fights.
“Obviously, the last one was for the world title [against Oleksandr Usyk], and this one was redemption, and he had to work really hard. We got his dad in the corner, and he was listening to him, and that spurred you on even more.”
The way that Dubois’ fight against Usyk played out, you can argue that he should be the unified champion now, and tonight should have been a title defense rather than him redeeming himself.
“There’s no doubt about that. If you ain’t going to do it for your dad, you’re not going to do it for anyone, are you? It was a really tough fight against a guy [Big Baby Miller] who is a competitor,” said Warren.
“He’s also very smart mentally, and he can take a shot. He hit him with some bombs that he would normally take people out with. In the end, he done what he had to do.”
Miller had the right plan, applying nonstop pressure, but he couldn’t soak up all that punishment after he emptied his gas tank. Who knows how the fight would have played out if Big Baby had the stamina that he had four years ago when he was throwing 80 punches per round without tiring. That version of Miller would have been a nightmare for Dubois tonight, but knows if he can get back to that level at age 35.
“It was a great fight for him. For me, it proves all the doubters wrong. He did what he had to do. He had to dig deep against a guy that generally thought he was going to beat him. So hats off to him. He’s done the business,” said Warren about Dubois.
