Jarrell Miller offers Anthony Joshua potential lifeline to fight in August in case Dillian Whyte talks fall through… with former drug cheat vowing to ‘annihilate’ him
- Former drug cheat Jarrell Miller has offered to fight Anthony Joshua in August
- AJ’s fight with Dillian Whyte looks like it should go ahead but is not over the line
- Should AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn opt for Miller, it would revive an old grudge
American heavyweight Jarrell Miller has sensationally offered to fight Anthony Joshua in August at short notice – after confusion about whether the Brit will have an opponent for his ring return.
Miller, 34, tested positive for banned substances in 2019 but since resuming his career in June last year has racked up three wins to build a 26-1-0 record.
Joshua has been due to return to action on August 12 and in recent days Eddie Hearn has said he will give Dillian Whyte a new offer after it looked like negotiations had fallen through.
Whyte, nicknamed The Body Snatcher, questioned whether the Brit was ‘serious’ about the fight and it looked as if talks had collapsed.
However, Whyte himself said that he has not turned down the fight and in recent days Hearn has claimed that the Brit will receive a contract.
Anthony Joshua was due to fight Dillian Whyte in August and it looks likely that it will happen
Jarrell Miller says that he would ‘annihilate’ Joshua if given the opportunity in the ring to do so
Miller and his promoter, Dmitriy Salita, have offered to fill any void, if indeed there is one.
The Brooklyn native was identified as Joshua’s next opponent in 2019 and the two verbally jousted, but the bout never got to happen due to his failed drug tests.
Speaking on the Stamina For Sale YouTube channel, Miller said: ‘I’ll annihilate him! Retire him! Send him back packing – plain and simple.
‘I’m not playing no games with nobody. I’m playing no games. There is bad blood there in a boxing sense so it would be great entertainment.
‘It’s nothing personal, I just don’t care for him, but when I see you on my radar, I don’t like you. I don’t like anything about you. I want to rip your guts out and nothing [is] going to change that.
‘I’m not going anywhere for a while, I’m back, I’m here to stay and I’m coming with vengeance. And if anybody wants the smoke they know I’m here. I’m back baby!’
It would make for an intruguing contest four years on from when their Madison Square Garden fight in 2019 was pulled.
Back then, Joshua was left scrambling for an opponent and after Eddie Hearn spoke with 16 heavyweights in the space of 24 hours, an opponent was eventually found in Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua would go on to lose for the first time in his career, succumbing in the seventh round via technical knockout. It was a huge upset in the sport, one of the biggest in history.
That night, he lost the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles.
Since then, Joshua has never quite been the same – after going 22 unbeaten until that defeat, he has lost three of his last six, though the other two defeats were, admittedly, to the mightily impressive Oleksandr Usyk.
Dillian Whyte (right) says he ‘100 per cent’ wants to fight AJ at the 02 Arena on August 12
Talks to make a blockbuster bout with AJ and Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia are nearly done
Miller is unbeaten in 27 fights and is trying to pounce at any opportunity he can to meet Joshua in the ring at the 02 Arena.
Whyte says he is still keen to take on Joshua: ‘I absolutely 100 per cent want to fight AJ and called Eddie to discuss the offer but couldn’t get hold of him. I messaged him too. I didn’t hear back from him so I sent him an email to confirm I wanted the fight.
‘I didn’t turn down the offer or propose a counter-offer. All I did was ask normal questions on his three-line email so-called offer,’ he said.
Talks are progressing to secure AJ a super fight with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia in December, and Whyte has previously expressed frustrations at him ‘worrying about the fight’ later in the year.
