NEW YORK—Jarrell Miller is not giving up on his dream of a showdown with Anthony Joshua.
The unbeaten heavyweight contender from Brooklyn, New York plans to hit the comeback trail, having been out of the ring since last November. He’s been unable to fight for most of 2019 after testing positive for multiple banned substances ahead of his eventually lost opportunity to challenge a then unbeaten, unified titlist in Joshua this past June at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
It was a massive letdown considering the geunuine bad blood between the pair of heavyweights, complete with a contentious announcement presser in NYC earlier this year. The show went on without Miller, as California’s Andy Ruiz (33-1, 22KOs) took the fight on less than six weeks’ notice and proceeded to shock the world. An off-the-canvas 7th round knockout dealt Joshua his first defeat while making Ruiz the first-ever Mexican boxer to claim a piece of the heavyweight crown.
A rematch is in store for Dec. 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. If Miller has his way, he will be going on his second fight of the year by that point.
If he really gets his way, he will face the winner of that bout—especially if it’s Joshua.
“That’s a great fighter,” Miller (23-0-1, 20KOs) said of the hulking Brit, who also captured a Gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. “Plus, great fighters know they got to come to America and prove themselves.
“Everyone’s kind of still looking at him like a scallywag. He’s still got to come over here and fight one good American, so Big Baby is still on top of that list.”
The loss to Ruiz spoiled Joshua’s otherwise lauded United States debut, fighting on this side of the Atlantic for the first time after having spent the entirety of his pro career to date plying his trade in the United Kingdom. Another first will come in his rematch with Ruiz, as both will fight in the Middle East for the first time in their respective careers. During a three-day, tricontinental press tour to promote the event, Joshua was asked by media about the possibility of one day facing Miller, to which he emphatically said yes.
“It’s awesome to hear him say that,” said Miller once word got back to him of such news. “At the same time, when I see him I still want to punch him in the face.”
Perhaps one day he’ll finally get the chance to do just that—in the ring of course.
Miller recently completed a six-month self-imposed suspension—doing so in conjunction with a ruling handed down by the World Boxing Association (WBA), which doesn’t have the actual power to suspend any boxer, more than just not sanction any of their bouts during a specified period.
Regardless, that period ended on Thursday, with the Brookylnite now on the hunt for a boxing licence and a comeback date, which he hopes to take place sometime in October.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox