There’s perhaps no more bitter a heavyweight rival than Anthony Joshua and Jarrell Miller.
The two fighters haven’t yet made it into the ring, but have had plenty of verbals at press conferences and appear to harbour genuine bad blood.
That hasn’t stopped the controversial American from giving credit where it’s due.
In a promotional feature with DAZN, Miller rated the knockouts of fellow fighters, and was shown ‘AJ’s finish of Dillian Whyte back in 2015. Despite the animosity, he gave it top marks.
“Even though I can’t stand AJ, I would definitely give this one a 5 too. It was a good shot”
Joshua and Whyte met for the British Heavyweight title following a bitter build-up that promised spitfeful action from the first bell. The fight delivered on that front, with the favourite quickly disregarded his gameplan in favour of a firefight.
Joshua was notably wobbled by Whyte in an exchange, but it was a storm he would weather before delivering the final blow – an uppercut to cap off an unanswered flurry that sent Whyte onto his back out cold.
Joshua won the IBF Heavyweight World title in his next outing against Charles Martin, added the WBO to his collection against Wladimir Klitschko one year later and took the WBA from Joseph Parker in 2018.
Miller was to get a shot at all three of those belts in New York, but tested positive for various banned substances and was replaced with Andy Ruiz Jr – the man who changed the trajectory of Joshua’s career by handing him his first loss.
The Brit won the titles back in an immediate rematch, but would later lose them to Oleksandr Usyk and fail in his second crack at beating the Ukrainian.
He looks to continue to fight his way back to the top on December 23, sharing a card with Miller who faces Daniel Dubois.
