This was a great card of boxing on a Saturday night from HBO live at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Kicking off as the second major state-side event presented by Matchroom Boxing USA, which is the latest attempt by the perfidious Brits to 'crack' America. In this case, Heavyweight ruler Anthony Joshua's outspoken promoter, Eddie Hearn.
The marquee attraction was Brooklyn native Daniel "Magic Man" Jacobs (34-2-0), who is the first talent Eddie Hearn has signed to his Matchroom USA stable. But it was also a high quality under-card on show, with another son of Brooklyn, the trash talking Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller back in action, and Olympic Gold medal winner Katie Taylor from Ireland seeking to unify the Women's WBA and IBF light-weight titles.
Katie Taylor v Victoria Bustos (Taylor UD [99-91 | 99-1 | 98-92])
Katie Taylor (9-0-0) is always an exciting fighter to watch, and she has worked wonders raising the profile of women's boxing in Europe and world-wide. She called time on her stellar amateur career in 2016, walking away with a bag stuffed full of gold medals, crowned by winning the Olympic Gold at London 2012.
Now also the women's WBA light-weight champion, Taylor was all set to mix it up with Argentina's Victoria Bustos (18-4-0) in Brooklyn, who also had her IBF belt on the line last night.
From the early rounds, the speed and accuracy of Taylor was simply too much for Bustos, but the Argentine never stopped coming forward. And although she showed all the signs of being frustrated once it was clear she would need to find a KO to win, Bustos at least elected to go out on her shield on the way to a unanimous decision loss.
Katie Taylor showed a lot of class after the fight, by visiting Victoria Bustos in her dressing room and handing back her IBF belt. Which was a worthy tribute to the former champion, who held that title for five consecutive years.
With the WBA and IBF titles secured, after only her 9th professional outing, Taylor says she wants all the belts in the light-weight division by the end of 2018. She seems to be on a career trajectory very similar to Vasyl "High Tech" Lomachenko, himself a ridiculously talented amateur. The Ukrainian also won everything there was to win at that level, before turning pro and being put on the fast track by his promoter Bob Arum at Top Rank.
Jarrell Miller v Johann Duhaupas (Miller UD [119-109 | 119-109 | 117-111])
Next up was heavy-weight Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller (21-0-1), who raised a few eyebrows at the official weigh-in when he tipped the scales at a career high weight of over 300 lbs (304).. Miller makes no secret of his love for cheese burgers, but he answered most of the critics by dominating the 12 rounds against France's Johann Duhaupas (37-4-0). The big American did gas slightly in the middle rounds, but got his second wind to finish strongly and displayed impressive work-rate throughout the contest .
After this result, questions will be asked over how much power Jarrell Miller brings to the table (at the highest level) along with all that excess weight. Miller was really hitting Johann Duhaupas with every shot in the book, during sustained physical assaults, with no clear evidence he was ever close to stopping the French fringe contender. Duhaupas does admittedly have a well earned reputation for durability. By comparison, Deontay Wilder laboured into the 11th round before he put the Frenchman away back in 2015.
But one would suspect the KO power of elite heavvweights such as Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua or maybe even Alexander Povetkin.. is at least one or two levels above Miller right now, who big target that he is, is also very easy to hit with his come-forward pressuring style..
In his post-fight media appearances, Jarrell Miller wasted no time in calling out Anthony Joshua, who is also conveniently promoted by Eddie Hearn. A potential meeting with Miller, which would also mark Joshua's US debut, seems to be on the back burner for now however as negotiations are ongoing for the Joshua v Wilder unification mega fight.
Unless I'm wrong about Jarrell Miller's lack of stopping power, I think this would be an easy night for Joshua if that fight happens. "AJ" might not put "Big Baby" away easily, but as highlighted above, because Miller is so easy to hit, even Joshua with his lack of movement shown in recent fights should be able to box and move enough to get a convincing decision against Miller.
Daniel Jacobs v Maciej Sulecki (Jacobs UD [116-111 | 117-110 | 115-112])
The headline bout saw Daniel Jacobs also going the distance, so at least the Brooklyn crowd got their money's worth!
A former WBA middle -weight title holder, Daniel Jacobs is probably best known for his losing effort in 2017 against Gennady "Triple G" Golovkin. Which was easily one of the fights of last year, and many commentators thought Jacobs was unlucky to be on the wrong side of the decision. Jacobs signed a deal with HBO in the aftermath of that meeting, and he is now trying to find a route back to a rematch with the Kazakh unified middle weight champion. Which is no easy task with all the drama and uncertainty surrounding "Triple G" and his recently cancelled Saul "Canelo" Alvarez rematch..
Last night, Jacobs was matched against Poland's Maciej Sulecki (26-1-0), who stepped up from light middle-weight to put on a very game display. The previously unbeaten Sulecki is no pushover, and he opted to walk away from a mandatory title shot against Jermell Charlo to take this non title fight against Jacobs.
The Pole looked very comfortable at 160 lbs, and although Jacobs was always on top and had plenty of opportunities to show off some of his elite level skills, also scoring a knockdown in the late rounds. Sulecki usually managed to answer back with some hard shots of his own, particularly a hurtful looking over-hand right which he landed almost at will against Jacobs at times, who was clearly hurt on at least once occasion.
The swelling and bruising around Jacob's eyes also told their own story and the "Magic Man" certainly knew that he had been in a fight! Jacobs admitted in his ring-side interview after picking up the decision that the Polish warrior had earned his respect with his toughness and ability to come through some of Jacob's best shots.
Daniel Jacobs has now chalked up two convincing wins against respectable opposition in 2018. But the money-men at HBO and his promoter Eddie Hearn will be putting pressure on Jacobs to take more risks with his next choice of opponent. It looks like he will be fighting Jermall Charlo, who is also stuck waiting in the line to face Gennady Golovkin. But this would be much more than just a keep busy fight if it goes ahead and will be a high pressure crossroads for both of their careers.
If Jacobs was to lose against Charlo, it would probably be back to the drawing board for him and his future ambitions, and he might be forced to move up to super middle-weight in search of another title opportunity.