Anthony Joshua’s world title foe Jarrell Miller will go head to head with the Briton in the second of two news conferences in West London on Monday to publicise their battle of Madison Square Garden, New York, on June 1, with the unbeaten American insisting he merits being a world title contender.
“Who had Anthony Joshua fought when he fought for the belt against Charles Martin?,” said Miller in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“Dillian Whyte. That was it, and Charles Martin basically gave him the IBF belt. I’ve the best record of any of those guys had for a heavyweight championship shot. Period. And people say I don’t deserve it? But I couldn’t care less. I know I deserve it and I’m going to go in there and do work.”
Joshua, he insisted, has still not been fully tested. “We seen it in the Joseph Parker fight. He was not aggressive. After the Klitschko fight, that was his best performance against an older guy who had had two years off and lost the fight before to Tyson Fury. If you look at the guys he’s fought they don’t really have an amateur background. He didn’t look that great against them either.”
“I’ve earned my shot. I’m a way better fighter than Dillian Whyte. Whyte got smacked around already, but then he earned his way back into a championship position. But, if you look at the guys he’s fought the only really okay guy he’s fought is Joseph Parker. And Parker didn’t come in 100 per cent. So Dillian Whyte turned down the fight, who’s next? The next best person is me. Wilder has some other business. Who else is it going to be? Think about it.”
Miller says the heat will be on in New York, and has continued to trash talk Joshua. “It’s always part of fighting, there’s no love in fighting. Anything goes. He’s more uppity up and about the money. Fighters are gritty. They’re not as pretty as he’s used to. In America if he wants to make noise, you’ve got to do that. He’s not built like that. It’s going to be different.”
All the top heavyweights, says Miller, must meet. “I think we’ve all got fight each other. You’ve got to get all the belts. You’ve got to fight whoever is there at the top. That’s how this game goes. Deontay Wilder had the belt for a number of years and didn’t really want to fight nobody. His record still sucks.”