AJ’s next opponent Jarrell Miller is horse-riding, nappy wearing philanthropist
Joshua makes his US debut against Miller at New York's Madison Square Garden in June against the unbeaten American
JARRELL MILLER is a horse-riding, techno-dancing philanthropist with a thriving haulage business.
Oh, and he has turned up for fights wearing a nappy.
But the New Yorker, nicknamed Big Baby, showed his bottle by accepting a fight on June 1 with WBA, WBO and IBF champ Anthony Joshua after Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte turned down the Brit.
Being Plan D will not hit the confidence of the 30-year-old Brooklyn ex-kickboxer, who splits his time between the concrete jungle of NYC and the jungle of his second home in Belize.
The 22st unbeaten slugger, with 20 of his 23 wins coming via KO, is motivated to create a better future on the crime-ridden streets of Belize City.
He is a lawless animal looking for a kill to feed his ravenous appetite and the desperately deprived children back in the Central American city.
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The 6ft 4in hulk said: “I am like the Penguin from Batman right now, the big bad villain. But that’s OK because you need these sort of characters in boxing.
“Outside the ring everyone knows I am a fun-loving, nice guy who loves his dessert. But inside the ring I am a terror, I am a monster.”
Miller spent five years of his childhood in Belize, a hotbed for gang violence and drug trafficking.
And aside from fighting, talking about his second home is when he is most animated.
A two-year stay in chilled-out Canada gave the challenger his laid-back approach to life — and taste for rave music.
Big Baby, who has now dropped the ring walks dressed as a toddler, compares himself to a big kid in a playground when he takes the 2,000-mile flight back to the former British colony Belize.
And there, his family meet him with a stallion strong enough to carry him out of the arrivals lounge.
He said: “I moved from Brooklyn to Belize aged two and came back around seven. From then I have always been back and forth.
“I also lived in Canada for two years and that gave me my love for dance and techno music.
“It also taught me how to mellow because I had a very rough, street-kid mentality and the Canadians were so nice.
“I go back to Belize as often as I can because it is an inspiration for me. Every time I see the area I grew up in I think, ‘Damn, I have to do something’.
“I am trying to help kids over there. I have opened a gym and I’m working with politicians to try to improve communities.
“Three-quarters of the cocaine that gets to America comes through Belize, there is a lot of corruption and crime. Around every 30 seconds there is a shooting.
“Some guys get off the plane at the airport and jump in a limo. I get ten of my cousins to ride down with my horse and I zoom out of there on that.”
Miller runs a martial arts gym in Queens and his kickboxing career saw 23 wins and two losses, his only defeats coming on points against MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop.
But Big Baby Trucking has been another source of income for the savvy investor, after a well-connected buddy made him an offer he could not refuse.
Fun-loving Miller said: “It’s two 18-wheelers and we run goods back and forth between New York and Atlanta.
“I had a friend who was an ‘old school businessman’, if you know what I mean, and he got out of that and started doing trucking. He told me to start being clever with my money.
“I invested and it is doing all right. It takes care of itself. But hell, no, I don’t drive the 18-wheelers. I would see a McDonald’s and crash. I am a truck — controlling myself is enough.”
Beneath his wisecracks and AJ-bashing, Miller is a multicultural man who has been hurt by American president Donald Trump’s campaign against immigrants getting into the country.
When asked how he feels watching the hordes of struggling Central Americans and Mexicans trying to follow him to the US, he shows a softer side.
He said: “It hurts because I have family from Mexico, as well as Guatemala and Honduras and it is rough.
“I am a man of the world. I do not agree with Donald Trump. We, as people, have to keep pushing and fighting for positivity. Negativity does not work.
“Once the boxing contract is signed and you step in the ring, you can use anger and negativity but, outside of the ring in politics and everything else, it does not work.”