Keep Your Hair On! – Jarrell Miller Wants Fabio Wardley Next

Where to start with last night’s fight between Jarrell Miller and Kingsley Ibeh? Firstly, “Big Baby” Miller got the win, his first since March of 2023, as he shed some ring-rust in pounding out a split decision over 10 at times quite fun to watch, at other times somewhat sloppy rounds – the scores being 97-93, 97-93 for Miller and 96-94 for Ibeh.

Now 27-1-2(22), Miller, at age 37, needs to make up for lost time, and this is what he says he intends to do. 32 year old Ibeh came close to scoring the upset last night, but he fell to 16-3-1(14).

Now, to the big talking point regarding last night’s fight. Larry Merchant has often referred to the sport of boxing as the theatre of the unexpected, and last night inside Madison Square Garden in New York, fans witnessed a wholly unexpected, even shocking moment, albeit a moment that generated laughter, not another black eye for the sport. Over the years in boxing, we’ve seen a parachutist glide into the ring (or into the top ropes to be more exact). We’ve seen mid-ring brawls. We’ve seen a riot after a fight. And we’ve seen far too many press conference shenanigans to keep track of.

But have we ever seen a fighter’s wig, his toupee, fly off during a fight?

Last night, in round-two of the Miller-Ibeh fight, an uppercut from Ibeh lifted Miller’s toupee from his head, the wig remaining on his scalp by a veritable thread. The commentators spotted it instantly (how could they not!) and Miller, ever the showman, took the wig off and tossed it into the crowd – whereupon WBO heavyweight champ Fabio Wardley picked it up!

Wardley is the man Miller wants to fight next. These two were, of course, all set to get it on last summer, only for the fight, scheduled for Wardley’s hometown of Ipswich, to fall apart at the last minute. Now, maybe Wardley will accept Miller’s challenge.

“Fabio said he wants to fight in America, so let’s make it happen,” Miller said to The Ring after last night’s win.

As for his hair-raising episode, Miller laughed it off, explaining that he lost his hair a couple of days ago when he mistakenly washed it with ammonia bleach instead of his regular shampoo (presumably not Wash and Go!). Really, the jokes are coming thick and fast with this one, and the moment where Miller’s hair went airborne has gone viral.

Miller, however, is laughing at himself.

“I’m a comedian,” he said post-fight. “You have to make fun of yourself.”

Miller really has had an eventful career, what with his trash-talking, his unfortunate, some would say unforgivable, failed drug tests, and his at times exciting, memorable fights. And now this, ‘hair-gate’ episode. What more might Miller bring to the ring before he’s done?

As for last night’s comedy moment, really, you couldn’t make it up!