Heretic wrote: ↑14 Mar 2018, 04:14
Wach and Washington are both better wins than Szpilka. Duhaupas will be too if Miller can beat him.
Szpilka has beaten no one of note. He got beaten and KOd easily by Jennings and even Mollo had him going life and death twice. I have no idea why people rate Szpilka.
Jennings was easily top 10 back then and gave Wlad problems, so that's expected. Szpilka has never been anywhere near my top 10 at any stage of his career. I'll concede he's about level with Wach, but he's no worse - don't forget, Wach didn't have things all his own way against Nascimento. I'm not rating him. Just saying I don't rate anyone Miller has beat either.
Washington, no chance. Not at all. He's basically rated on 2 half decent rounds against Wilder. Before that fight he was barely top 50, and I'm not sure that's changed. There's a fair chance someone like Otto Wallin or Bogdan Dinu beat him easy. I'd like to see him in with Joey Abell, so I can properly guage his level.
Still though, even if the argument is that Wach is slightly better than Szpilka (which I'm not totally convinced of), that's still only comparing Miller to Adam Kownacki... That doesn't come anywhere near addressing what I was asking, which basically, was why should Joshua and Wilder pay him any attention?
jamamb wrote: ↑14 Mar 2018, 04:26
Deleted_Scenes wrote: ↑12 Mar 2018, 11:13
oogiebe wrote: ↑12 Mar 2018, 10:40
Makes sense to me, but I'd really like someone to get Miller out of the way.
Is he in the way? I'd have him 9th at best, until he beats anyone worth caring about. He's loud, but I'm not sure he deserves to be ranked any higher than someone like Takam or Andy Ruiz based on anything he's done in the ring. Kownacki has a better win on his record, beating Szpilka.
Joshua might fight him, to raise his profile in the US, but I'd be massively disappointed if he did and I'd expect it to end fairly early.
who do you think is clearly ahead of him?
where would you rank him if he beats duhaupas widely?
About the same. Duhaupas is 37 now, and has basically no punch resistance left (Miller can bang, if nothing else). He's a recognisable name that's been put in there to make Miller look good imo. I'm expecting a KO. What round depends on whether Duhaupas decides to trade or run.
The heavyweight division, to me, is basically split into 4 sections:
Top 2 - Joshua, Wilder.
2nd Tier/Top contenders - Povetkin, Ortiz, Parker, Pulev.
3rd Tier/Fringe contenders - Takam, Whyte, Browne, Miller, Breazeale, Ruiz Jr, Hughie Fury etc.
4th Tier/Recognisable journeymen - Wach, Szpilka, Rudenko, Dimitrenko, Duhaupas, Hammer, Teper, Charr, Molina etc. (I probably have Rudenko as the best of a bad bunch here).
Looking at the 3rd group, you have Takam who despite losing his big fights has given 2 very respectable showings against tier 2 fighters, Ruiz and Fury who arguably deserved a draw against a tier 2 fighter, and Whyte and Browne who are fighting each other.
In an awful division, I see more value in challenging yourself, even if you just come up short, than in being content just picking off those tier 4 fighters (which is all Miller is doing). Well schooled rookies such as Hrgovic or Joyce would be clear favourites against those same fighters Miller is beating.
Even if you do rate Miller as the best of that group (that's ok, I won't argue), why should that mean Joshua and Wilder should pay attention?
He's talked himself into the picture, rather than fought his way there. Fair play to him, but he just hasn't got me excited.
