News came out today that talks between former heavyweight world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, Anthony Joshua, and plans for his scheduled rematch with Dillian Whyte have gone south, as first reported by BoxingSocial.com who broke the news in a recent Eddie Hearn interview.
ProBox TV News caught up with Dmitry Salita, the CEO of Salita Promotions, who is also a former fighter, who promotes Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, to get a better understanding of this situation.
“Today, [a boxing manager] tweeted that [he’d like to see Joshua versus Miller],” stated Salita to ProBox TV News. “It is getting so much [attention] - it is kind of going viral. I spoke with Jarrell and [we’d] love that opportunity to [fight Anthony Joshua].”
Jarrell Miller, who is best known by his nickname, ‘Big Baby’, was originally set to face Anthony Joshua on June 1st, 2019. That was until Miller failed a blood test for Human Growth Hormone with a urine test also revealing that he had a positive test for both EPO and GW1516. Since the failure, Miller has been out of the spotlight, and though he has returned to the sport, more scrutiny has come his way than appreciation. As his failed test set the groundwork for Andy Ruiz Jr.’s improbable upset victory over Anthony Joshua as Ruiz stopped Joshua in round seven.
Salita doesn’t see why this fight couldn’t be revisited in 2023, with the same terms as before, contested at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. With Miller riding a three-fight win streak since returning to the sport after his suspension with his latest win being a sixth-round stoppage of Lucas Browne, the promoter wonders aloud, ‘Why not Jarrell Miller.’
Salita also pointed to the nature of boxing which is a divided sport, one in which fighters are often at the whims of their promoters. As certain networks only work with certain fighters, for this very reason - Salita believes Miller makes a great candidate as Salita Promotions has shown a great track record of working with all types of promoters and networks.
“There are not that many fighters that are elite to make the big fights and the few that [are out there] have exclusive deals whether it is with Top Rank, PBC, or Matchroom,” said Salita. “It is more difficult for them to make things work. For me, [whether it is] Jarrell Miller, Otto Wallin, or Jermaine Franklin, I have shown throughout history, we go where the best opportunity is. So, certainly, it is something [we are] very interested in.
