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Jarrell Miller didn’t waste any time calling out Anthony Joshua in the aftermath of his most noteworthy win in four years.
Miller was infamously removed in April 2019 from his shot at a then-unbeaten Joshua’s four heavyweight titles because he tested positive for multiple banned substances. It is unclear if Joshua would even entertain the idea of rescheduling a fight with Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs), but that didn’t stop the brash Brooklyn native from questioning the former champ’s heart after Miller stopped Lucas Browne in the sixth round Saturday night in Dubai.
“I want [Daniel] Dubois or I want AJ,” Miller told Tyron Woodley in the ring. “We got unfinished business. You know, he gotta be a man and step up to the plate. He can’t have his balls in his pocket. If he want the fight, let’s make it happen. He want an easy win. He fighting Jermaine Franklin coming off a loss, which I thought he beat Dillian Whyte. So AJ, let’s get it on. Stop being a p-ssy. You know what I mean? Straight up.”
England’s Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) will fight for the first time April 1 since he lost his rematch to Oleksandr Usyk by split decision August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He’ll face Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs), of Saginaw, Michigan, in a 12-rounder DAZN will stream from O2 Arena in London.
The 34-year-old Miller’s victory over Australia’s Browne (31-4, 27 KOs) was his third win since he resumed his career last June 23 after serving a two-year suspension for another failed PED test in June 2020. The 6-foot-4, 333-pound Miller dropped and stopped the 43-year-old Browne in the sixth round of a scheduled 10-rounder at The Agenda.
Browne was Miller’s most formidable opponent since he knocked out Romania’s Bogdan Dinu (then 18-0) in the fourth round of a November 2018 fight at Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas.
Miller was scheduled to challenge Joshua for Joshua’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts in June 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York. He was replaced by Andy Ruiz Jr. after Miller tested positive for GW501516, also known as cardarine and endurobol, in March 2019. He also tested positive for human growth hormone and erythropoietin, more commonly called EPO, in separate samples taken in March 2019.
Miller admitted on social media after he was removed from the Joshua fight that he “messed up.” The undefeated contender was not yet licensed in New York when he failed those tests, though, and therefore wasn’t suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission.
Miller’s compensation package for the Joshua fight would’ve exceeded $5 million. Ruiz replaced Miller on approximately five weeks’ notice and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history.
Ruiz knocked Joshua to the canvas four times and stopped him in the seventh round. Joshua regained his belts when he won their immediate rematch by 12-round unanimous decision in December 2020 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
