LOS ANGELES — Jarrell Miller may be fighting Andy Ruiz Jr. on Saturday at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles but the bruising heavyweight is already looking ahead at future challenges.
The New Yorker is looking to rebound from a 10th-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last year, a defeat which he attributes to poor fight management at the time.
As his opponent, Ruiz, returns to the ring after a two-year layoff, both fighters seemingly have a point to prove at the Riyadh Season event which Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov are headlining.
Speaking to World Boxing News ahead of the heavyweight shoot-out, Miller said he wants a victory so that he can secure a fight he once had before, but never got to complete.
Miller was due to challenge Anthony Joshua for the WBA, WBO, and IBF world heavyweight championships in 2019, but multiple failed drug tests prevented his participation — and the unified title shot was awarded to Ruiz on short notice instead.
“Most definitely” I want the AJ fight, Miller told World Boxing News this week. “Let’s make it happen.”
After Ruiz stepped in to replace Miller, he shook up the combat sports world by dropping Joshua four times en route to a humiliating loss for the hulking Brit. Ruiz, though, has been unable to capture any of the momentum he had after that night as he gained weight, lost the rematch, and has fought just twice in the five years since.
Miller, meanwhile, continues to chase a big bout.
Jarrell Miller wants Anthony Joshua fight
He said: “We’ll see what happens with AJ next and take it from there, but we’re still here, we’re still young, and we’re still competing at a high-level.”
Because of Miller’s drug history — testing positive for both EPO and HGH — there would inevitably be critics who’ll say the 6-foot-4 slugger has done nothing to deserve a shot at someone like Joshua and shouldn’t be rewarded with that kind of payday after testing positive for such performance-enhancing drugs.
UPDATE:Andy Ruiz Jr planning to fight former rival next if he beats Jarrell Miller – but not Anthony Joshua
But when World Boxing News spoke to Eddie Hearn five years ago about possibly making the fight once again, the Matchroom boss acknowledged that it’s a monster fight.
It’s unclear if Hearn’s stance has changed in the years since, with Joshua continually moving on to bigger and better things, having beaten Ruiz in a rematch, having fought Oleksandr Usyk twice, and knocking out the former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou in style in only the second round.
A Miller fight is one with history and controversy, which, in this industry, makes it sellable. Additionally, it could also command tense storylines in the build-up as it became part of heavyweight lore when the pair filmed a Behind The Gloves special for Sky Sports — and engaged one another in a rap battle.
According to internet legend, Miller eviscerated Joshua on the mic. The footage, though, was never released. And it’s unclear if it even exists anymore.
We asked Miller about the incident. “Oh, man — that was funny stuff,” he told us. “I made him p*** in his pants.”
