By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Jarrell Miller hopes he’s wrong.
The talkative heavyweight contender from Brooklyn hopes beating Johann Duhaupas indeed leads to an August showdown with British superstar Anthony Joshua. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has repeatedly said Miller is a top option to fight Joshua if the unbeaten heavyweight champion makes his debut in the United States later this year.
A Joshua-Miller match could take place sometime in August at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Miller will face Duhaupas on April 28. Miller won’t believe it until he sees a contract from Hearn, though.
“It’s definitely what I want, but I don’t think it’s realistic right now, just because I’m not a gullible person,” Miller told BoxingScene.com during an open workout Thursday at Gleason’s Gym. “From the first time I heard it, and Eddie Hearn was talking about it, I knew in the back of my mind it was just straight B.S. You know what I mean? I’ll believe it when I see the paperwork, so it never bothered me. But I may just go to the drawing board and figure out what’s next.”
When asked why he now doesn’t think Hearn is serious about matching him against Joshua, Miller replied, “Because Eddie Hearn’s BS. Promoters are BS. Not just Eddie Hearn, but most of them are. They BS fighters, man.”
The 29-year-old Miller (20-0-1, 18 KOs) is co-promoted by Dmitry Salita and Greg Cohen. They’re all working with Hearn, however, in hopes of landing Miller what would be a lucrative shot at Joshua, one of boxing’s biggest stars and the most popular fighter in the United Kingdom.
Hearn also is involved in well-publicized, preliminary negotiations with representatives for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) for a much-anticipated Joshua-Wilder heavyweight title unification fight. Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) also could make a mandatory defense of his WBA title next against Russia’s Alexander Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs).
Hearn launched an American division of the promotional company his father, Barry Hearn, founded, Matchroom Boxing, late last year. Miller appeared on Hearn’s first U.S. show on November 11, when he stopped Poland’s Mariusz Wach (33-3, 17 KOs) in the ninth round at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs is the only fighter officially signed to Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA.
Brooklyn’s Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) will oppose Poland’s Maciej Sulecki (26-0, 10 KOs) in the main event April 28 at Barclays Center. The Jacobs-Sulecki bout and Miller’s match with France’s Duhaupas (37-4, 24 KOs) will be broadcast by HBO.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
