Miller vs Ibeh Predictions: Maybe, you’re gonna be the one ‘Big Baby’

Brooklyn heavyweight Jarrell Miller has his name up in lights in the Big Apple this Saturday, January 31 as he takes on Kingsley Ibeh. Madison Square Garden in New York hosts the fight, which takes place on the Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson undercard. DAZN will broadcast the event live.

Read further for my Miller vs Ibeh predictions ahead of this blockbuster bout.

Miller vs Ibeh Odds

Miller is 2/11 to get the big win in Brooklyn. Ibeh is priced at 9/2 while the draw is marketed at 16/1.

Miller vs Ibeh Fight Preview

One of heavyweight boxing’s two prominent users of the inexplicable ‘Big Baby’ nickname, it is a big win that Miller is hunting for after a recent slump. 

Miller is perhaps best known for being the fall guy in one of modern boxing’s biggest upsets. But the American did not lose in the ring. That was left to Anthony Joshua, who sacrificed his WBA, WBO and IBF titles to Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019. The lovable latino replaced Miller after the New Yorker failed a drugs test ahead of his scheduled shot at AJ. 

Still a 22-0-1 prospect at the time, opportunity came knocking again once Jarrell had served his ban. But ridiculously, ‘Big Baby’ bungled another test, when banned substances were found in his sample ahead of a scheduled comeback against Jerry Forrest. Back on the shelf, ‘Baby’.

Miller muddled back with some low-key wins in 2022, four years after his most recent outing at the time. A couple of keep-busy knockouts secured the power-puncher a crack at former WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion Lucas Browne, who ironically had been stripped of that title for his own drug test misdemeanours.

Browne KO’ed the washed-up Aussie and that was enough to put him in the Riyadh Season orbit. Turki Alalshikh’s heavyweight hit factory pitched him against Daniel Dubois, who at that point was coming off his first loss to Oleksandr Usyk. In a scintillating contest, Dubois got the win with a spectacular 10th-round finish.

A spirited display against a world class heavyweight (quite literally, as Dubois won the IBF title the following year) was enough to net Miller another high-profile fight. His August 2024 bout with Ruiz was ripe with narrative. The butterfly effect of Miller’s mistakes had helped make this man champion. Now Miller wanted to take back what was his.

The pair fought to a majority draw in a draining, interesting contest. Ruiz looked gassed well before halfway, as a man whose appetite once secured him a Snickers endorsement is likely to do. Miller looked for my money to nick ahead on the cards, thudding in the more hurtful shots. But a draw was not a horrendous result. It is sad that no rematch was forthcoming, as both competitors have been out of the ring since their summer 2024 contest.

Miller breaks that duck but, at the age of 37, you feel like he’s fighting for another ‘opponent’ role against one of the big names. After false starts, failures and floundering; if Miller was going to be a world class heavyweight he’d have proved it by now.

‘Big Baby’ won’t need to be world class to get past Ibeh. The 32-year-old is a decent campaigner at 16-2-1. Early career losses included one on points to Jared Anderson, another ‘Big Baby’ while the draw to Guido Vianello, the upset-happy Italian, has aged exceptionally well. 

Ibeh is telling all and sundry he wants WBO top boy Fabio Wardley if he wins. Get in line, mate. I think ‘The Gypsy King’ has dibs on that one. But a win here would be a career-high for one of the division’s quiet men. It is up to him to make some noise against Miller.

Miller vs Ibeh Full Card

Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson

Carlos Adames vs Austin Williams

Keyshawn Davis vs Jamaine Ortiz

Bruce Carrington vs Carlos Castro

Ziyad Almaayouf vs Kevin Castillo

Jarrell Miller vs Kingsley Ibeh

Miller vs Ibeh Preview

Ibeh is the fitter man here. He has boxed twice in 2025 and thrice each in 2023 and 2024. This is an active and sharp heavyweight. Ibeh has 14 knockouts from 16 victories with 12 of his wins coming consecutively since the Anderson reverse.

Miller is rough and rugged, but he picks his shots deceptively well. However, at 37 and with such a stop-start career behind him, I just don’t think he can summon his best. Ibeh has been an ever-present, albeit not in the same class. But a solid TKO of gatekeeper extraordinaire Gerald Washington last time out hinted at bigger things.

I think Saturday will see the arrival of those bigger things. I’m backing Ibeh to pull off the upset here at 9/2.

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