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Jarrell Miller halts Fred Kassi after three rounds on ShoBox

Photo by Rosie Cohe / Showtime
Fighters Network
20
Aug

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Jarrell Miller wanted to score a clean knockout of the normally durable Fred Kassi in their ShoBox: The New Generation headliner on Friday, but he’ll take the way the fight ended.

Miller won by technical stoppage when Kassi remained on his stool after the end of the third round of their scheduled 10-round bout at Rhinos Stadium in Rochester, N.Y.

With the win, Miller improved his record to 18-0-1, 16 knockouts. Kassi, now winless in his last five bouts, drops to 18-6-1, 10 KOs.

Aside from the significant height advantage, Miller weighed 60 pounds more than Kassi from Thursday’s weigh-in.



Kassi likely won the opening round by moving in and out of Miller’s guard, connecting with lead left hands and counter rights to the head of Miller. As the bout progressed, Miller began closing the distance, throwing and landing more punches.

Miller hurt Kassi with a right uppercut midway through the third round. Kassi fought through Miller’s onslaught of punches that rained down on him, eventually making it through the round.

After the round concluded, Kassi told referee Michael Griffin he was not able to continue, citing an injury to his right hand.

Miller has now won his last seven bouts by knockout.

“I was going to get a stoppage anyways,” said Miller after the fight. “If he (Kassi) wanted to continue, he would’ve continued. He knew I was going to catch him and that broke his confidence.”

As in previous post-fight interviews, Miller called out Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Deontay Wilder while criticizing and making fun of the heavyweight standouts.

In the ShoBox co-feature, lightweight up-and-comer Mason Menard stopped Bahodir Mamadjonov in the ninth round.

Menard, who is best known for his spectacular one-punch knockout win over Eudy Bernard on April 15, improves to 32-1, 24 KOs. Mamadjonov drops to 19-3, 11 KOs.

There was little action between the two fighters in the first half of the fight until Menard swung momentum in his direction in round seven, twice dropping the southpaw Mamadjanov.

The bout came to abrupt end in round nine when Menard hurt Mamadjonov with a right hand to the head, forcing Mamadjonov to grab onto Menard. As referee Steve Smoger separated the two, Mamadjonov fell to the canvas. Smoger immediately stopped the bout at 2:26.

Bantamweights Antonio Nieves (16-0-2, 8 KOs) and Alejandro Santiago (11-2-2, 3 KOs) fought to a split decision draw over 10 rounds. Nieves and Santiago each won 96-94 on two judges’ scorecards, while the third judge scored the bout 95-95.

In the opening bout of the Showtime broadcast, unbeaten welterweight Bakhtiyar Eyubov (11-0, 10 KOs) faced his toughest test to date as a pro, winning a close 10-round split decision over Karim Mayfield (19-4-1, 11 KOs).

One judge scored the bout 95-94 for Mayfield, while the other two judges scored the bout 95-94 in favor of Eyubov, who was deducted a point in round eight for landing a low blow.

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