Kingsley Ibeh: “I Left My Job at a Topless Bar for the Miller Fight”

32-year-old American Heavyweight boxer Kingsley Ibeh shared his expectations for the confrontation with 37-year-old compatriot Jarrell Miller.

“I worked as a personal trainer and a bouncer at a topless bar in Phoenix. If I were still a bouncer, I’d be working from 4 PM to 9 PM seven days a week, without the opportunity to train properly in the gym. It was a struggle, but I took a leave of absence for the training camp.

I believe that I will stop him. I prepared for a fight against the best version of Miller and I expect him to come out in his best form. I want to trade blows, continue the physical confrontation, and move forward. I expect that I will be booed when I enter the ring. He lives in New York.

Miller was fighting top-level opponents when I was just starting out in boxing, and now he is my opponent. Idols have become rivals. We are both big, tough, and strong. But it’s not about the size of the dog — it’s about how fiercely that dog fights. I realized that football is about physics, while in boxing you need discipline: to spar to learn and to hit to cause pain.

I am grateful and blessed to fight on this stage. For me, it will be a career-changing moment, and even more — a lifestyle-changing one thanks to greater exposure. I will have more fans because more people will hear my story, and I will rise to the next level. I can influence something,” said Ibeh.

The bout between Jarrell Miller (26-1-2, 22 KOs) and Kingsley Ibeh (16-2-1, 14 KOs) will take place on January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, on the undercard of the confrontation between Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson.