Bryce Mills Excited To Fight In Front Of Ricky Hatton But What He Really Craves Are Longer Fights

Junior welterweight Bryce Mills is hoping his fight on June 7 will be his last six-round bout as he aims to graduate to eight- or 10-rounders. To achieve that, he will need a promoter, something he has yet to acquire.

Mills will face Jose Marruffo at Turning Stone Resort as part of a show on Hall of Fame weekend, broadcast on DAZN.

Mills (15-1, 5 KOs) had a nickname close to the heart of lead promoter of the show, Oscar De La Hoya, as an amateur. However, the nickname didn’t stick in his professional career due to the shadow cast by previous great boxers.

“As an amateur fighter, my nickname was ‘The Golden Boy,’” said the 22-year-old Mills. “My advisor, Amer Abdallah, gave me that nickname, and it stuck. But, we didn’t use it as a professional because there are so many golden boys.”

The idea of fighting in front of Hall of Fame inductees like Ricky Hatton excites Mills, but he yearns to soon find himself in bouts over longer distances and this will be his 11th six-round fight in a row. Mills, a major draw in the Syracuse region, is often brought in to help sell tickets.

“This has got to be my last six-round fight,” Mills said. “Unfortunately, I’m not signed by a promotion right now. So really, there’s no upside for a promotion to give me an eight-round fight. Honestly, I’m ready for the 10-round fights. I’m sparring up to 12 rounds right now. This is most definitely going to be my last six-rounder, and we’re moving on to eight-round fights after this.”

“We’ve had offers from these promotions, but it’s just nothing that I feel values me enough yet. But I know eventually we’ll get one [a promoter], I just have to keep performing to the best of my ability in the ring.”

Mills sees the path to a promoter as simple: he needs to get stoppages. He has a low knockout percentage, with only 33 per cent of his fights ending by stoppage. Against the 32-year-old Marruffo (14-13-2, 2 KOs) he faces a veteran coming off three knockout losses in his last four fights.

“Eventually, you want to start getting these knockouts in there. Fans love to see knockouts and promoters love to see knockouts,” Mills said. “We’re looking for that viral moment, that clip that we can put on TikTok, and it gets millions of views because I put someone to sleep with that huge shot.”