Newly crowned British featherweight titleholder Zak Miller has credited his success to trainer Steve Mylatt.
Miller won the Lonsdale belt with a disciplined display against Masood Abdullah to outpoint the then-undefeated fighter by majority decision Saturday in Manchester, England. Miller was unsuccessful in his previous attempt at winning the British title, losing to Nathaniel Collins in November 2023.
Miller spoke to Boxing Now’s Aky Karim about a memorable night for him and his team.
“I can’t even put it into words, do you know what I mean?” said Miller. “But it’s not – it’s not so surreal. It is surreal, but it’s not, you know? I know how good I am and I know what I’m putting in the gym. And I’ve come up short for these titles once before, and tonight there was no denying me.
“People can say they’ve had the best camp ever and all this, but if you don’t turn up on fight night, it’s no good, is it? Yeah. You may as well have wasted all that, and I’ve turned up on fight night, I’ve stayed super-switched-on. You know, me and my team, everyone stayed cool in the corner, done everything right. I’ve gone out there and, you know what I mean, I’ve gone and done it.”
Miller was boxing on the same card as Jack Rafferty, his gym mate at The Finest Boxing Gym. Rafferty was making his first defense of his British junior welterweight title against Reece MacMillan. The belt holder put on a dominant display and stopped MacMillan inside seven rounds.
“There was no denying us, mate, honestly,” said Miller. “When we first found out we was on this card together, we looked at each other and we went, just like, ‘Yes, this is it,’ and we have grafted our arses off, grafted and grafted. You know, we’ve sacrificed our Christmas – but never mind that, we’ve sacrificed our lives for this, you know? But people say, ‘Oh, you’re missing out, you can’t do this,’ but you can’t do what we’re doing; I’m British and Commonwealth champion, come on.”
As well as Miller and Rafferty have done in recent times, the newly crowned British titleholder insists he could not have done it without his coach, Mylatt.
“The reaction on his face to see he’s got two British champions in that room with him,” Miller said. “Mate, I’m just so happy for him. You know, he deserves it more than anyone, because without him, no one tipped me and Jack [Rafferty] to be this when we turned pro. Do you know what I mean? Without Steve [Mylatt], we’d be shite. He’s transformed us into machines.”
As for Miller, he was asked what is next for him, and he jokingly replied: “Well, I think I’m tipped for Las Vegas in September – I think, with [Terence] Crawford. I think we’ve got Crawford on there.
“I’ll get a Five Guys [to bulk up]. Nah, I don’t know. Yeah, yeah, I don’t know. I can’t believe it, mate, honestly.”
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