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Heavyweight prospect and rising contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller has formally turned down an IBF eliminator against Kubrat Pulev, according to a report at ESPN, opting instead to pursue a title shot with the WBA.
Miller (21-0-1, 18 KO) would have had to fight Pulev (25-1, 13 KO) in Pulev’s native Bulgaria, where Epic Sports & Entertainment, winners of the fight’s purse bid, planned to host the event. John Wirt of Epic said that HBO wasn’t interested in the fight, so Bulgaria made the most sense.
But not for Miller’s team, who will instead look to potentially face the winner of the September 29 fight between Manuel Charr and Fres Oquendo. Charr currently holds the WBA “world” title, while Anthony Joshua has the “super world” belt.
This is the second time in recent months that Epic has won a purse bid for a Pulev bout, planned to put it in Bulgaria, and been unable to get the opponent to agree to terms, following the failed attempt for a Pulev-Dillian Whyte fight.