Jarrell Miller picks up right where he left off after viral moment

I must admit, I was surprised to see that Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller was fighting this weekend.

Either Miller vs Lenier Pero at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas wasn't promoted much, or I was asleep at the wheel.

Next week, the Cinco de Mayo weekend, is the big weekend for the sport in the U.S., so any fight scheduled for the weekend before won't be very high-profile. But the unappealing date, sparse crowd, and lack of promotion didn't stop the fight from being extremely entertaining.

Big Baby Miller won a unanimous decision against the previously undefeated Cuban, Pero, while throwing over 1,000 punches in the fight. He averaged over 85 punches thrown per round.

Miller is a notoriously slow starter. He's willing to give up early rounds and even let you hit him just so he can feel out his opponent. Once he had a gauge of the power Pero was bringing to the table, or lack thereof, he went to work. Starting from the third round on, Miller pounded on Pero.

Not every shot thrown was a haymaker, but a lot of them landed. Miller, like David Benavidez, who is fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend, kills his opponents with volume, and if you can't keep him off you with your own power, you're pretty much doomed.

Two judges scored the bout 117-111, but since this wouldn't be boxing without at least one off-the-wall scorecard, the third judge scored the bout 115-113, meaning he had the fight one round from being even.

In reality, Pero won two, maybe three rounds.

At 305 lbs, they don´t call Miller "Big Baby" for nothing. He is a big man. But even when they showed him in the dressing room before the fight, he looked fitter than he had been in a long time.

The 37-year-old has weighed as much as 342 lbs during fights in his career. But he came into this fight in much better shape.

You may remember Miller from the viral moment he had in January when Kingsley Ibeh knocked his toupee off his head in the first round of their fight. Miller came back to win that fight, but all the talk afterward was of his wig detaching before he took it off his head and threw it into the crowd.

Miller had been out of the ring for 17 months prior to that, and he fought Saturday night, less than three months removed from the January bout. He called out fellow American heavyweight Deontay Wilder, whom he has been chasing for years, for a fight in June on the Boots Ennis, Xander Zayas undercard.

That would be 3 fights in 6 months for Miller. Jarrell Miller is clearly making up for lost time.

The U.S. heavyweight division could definitely use a shot in the arm. I would rather it be some up-and-coming young fighter, but if it's gotta be Miller and Wilder (40) to bring some momentum to the division, then so be it.

Related: De La Hoya, Nico Ali Walsh defense of boxing may be too late

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 5:54 AM.