By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Jarrell Miller was busy blasting the level of Anthony Joshua’s competition early in his pro career when a reporter interjected.

Miller replied as you might expect once that reporter reminded the unbeaten Brooklyn heavyweight that England’s Joshua won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“Oh, when he fought in London,” Miller quipped last week, while promoting his June 1 title fight against Joshua. “When he lost two of those three fights, and they gave it to him in London, right? That Olympics was bullsh*t. You can sell me that story any time of day. But look at the opponents he fought against – and they really whipped his behind and they gave it to him in his hometown. You see what I’m trying to say?”

The 6-feet-6, 245-pound Joshua was 22 when he won four fights in London to capture a gold medal.

The Watford native defeated Cuba’s Erislandy Savon, 17-16, in his first fight in London. That decision was widely viewed as controversial.

Joshua then edged China’s Zhang Zhilei, 15-11, before beating Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko, 13-11, in the semifinals.

In the super heavyweight gold medal match, Joshua scored another debatable decision victory over Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle, who won a gold medal in 2008 in Beijing. Joshua won that bout by count-back once he and Cammarelle finished tied at 18.

That Olympic victory launched Joshua’s career in the United Kingdom, where boxing has become increasingly popular in recent years. Miller still thinks Olympic medals are overrated because those accomplishments often don’t amount to accurate indications of how good a boxer will perform at the professional level.

“There’s a lot of fighters that have been getting jerked by the Olympics for years,” Miller said. “So we don’t count the gold medal, because a lot of guys, gold medalists, turn pro and get smashed up. [Vasiliy] Lomachenko turned pro and got beat up by an older [Mexican] fighter [Orlando Salido] on his [second pro fight]. So, you can’t say a gold medal gonna do anything. It helps you. It helps recognition. It helps you get a couple sponsorship dollars when you turn pro.

“But that don’t mean jack to me. You can keep all them gold medals. I got street medals. They mean more to me than anything. I got cheeseburger, hamburger-eating medals. You know what I mean? Believe that. You know what I mean? So, you could say whatever you want about medals and all that. That sh*t don’t mean nothing.”

Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs), the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champ, and Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) continued to promote their June 1 fight at Madison Square Garden on Monday at a press conference in London.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.