One of Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight rivals has had some harsh words for the Brit.
Joshua is set to face Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin in his next bout as he continues his comeback run following wins over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius already this year. It’s part of a mega card in Saudi Arabia on December 23 that will also feature light heavies Dmitri Bivol versus Lyndon Arthur plus fellow heavyweight contenders Deontay Wilder versus Joseph Parker, and Daniel Dubois versus Jarrell Miller.
Miller and Joshua have history, of course. They were due to fight in June of 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but Miller failed several drug tests in the lead up to the fight. Andy Ruiz Jr stepped in and handed Joshua his first loss, and since then there has been plenty of back and forth between ‘AJ’ and ‘Big Baby’.
That continued when Miller spoke to talkSport Boxing about his options should he beat Dubois, who himself is coming off a knockout loss to Usyk back in August.
“My main focus is knocking Dubois out and then coming back on the February 13 card of Usyk and Tyson Fury if that’s going to happen, and hopefully get [Mahmoud] Charr for that title.”
Should that not materialise, he re-stated his desire to face Joshua and be the man to retire him.
“But if not Charr, I would really love to gutter AJ and retire him.”
With Joshua intent on becoming a three-time world champion and having already given him one chance to fight, it seems unlikely Joshua and Miller will meet next. Instead, Joshua’s sights seem set on Wilder, with plenty of verbal back and forth between the two during the press conference to announce this card.