Joshua to finally fight in the States

Anthony Joshua has finally announced his long awaited next fight after months of speculation and potential opponents. Somewhat surprisingly, Joshua has agreed to travel to New York to fight against the undefeated Jarrell Miller.

Joshua journeys across the pond

In what will be his first fight outside of the UK, Joshua will be looking to light up Madison Square Garden against the hard hitting Miller, who also comes into the fight yet to suffer a professional loss. The 29-year-old will be putting his IBF, WBO and WBA world titles on the line against the ‘Big Baby’, following his latest victory against Alexander Povetkin back in September 2018.

This will be Miller’s debut title fight, and he boasts an impressive 23 wins with one draw in his professional record thus far, but Joshua will be his biggest and most fierce test yet. The man born in Brooklyn is coming off the back of a victory over Bogdan Dinu in November of 2018, and will be looking for his biggest scalp in the heavyweight division thus far.

The wait for Wilder goes on

Many boxing fans have been left disappointed by the announcement of the fight, with fans eagerly awaiting Joshua to fight Deontay Wilder – who currently holds the only belt that alludes the Englishman; the WBC title. However, Wilder looks set to agree to a rematch with Tyson Fury instead, following their highly entertaining draw in December.

Most see Jarrel Miller as a mere placeholder for Joshua, with some bookmakers having AJ as short as 1/10 to claim a win against the relatively untested American. Miller is currently as far as out as 5/1 to claim what would be a massive upset. However, that is not dampening the confidence of the 30-year-old, who has vowed to add Joshua to the list of British flops attempting to claim victories on United States soil.

Whyte continues to watch

The upcoming fight has also caused great frustration to Dillian Whyte, who was hoping to have done enough to have claimed a long awaited rematch against Joshua, following their grudge match in 2015. However, with Joshua opting to fight Miller, Whyte is looking likely to turn his attentions to the American Dominic Breazeale. A victory over Breazeale would set Whyte up as the mandatory challenger for Wilder’s WBC title.

However, this hasn’t stopped Whyte voicing his support for Miller in the upcoming bout, claiming that the Big Baby has the tools to spring a surprise package on Joshua. Yet for Whyte, if he is eventually able to claim the WBC title from Wilder, it could set him up for the biggest UK fight in decades with a title unification clash against AJ, and the dramatic conclusion of a vicious rivalry between the pair.

For now, the first thing on everyone’s mind for heavyweight boxing is Joshua’s first fight in the States. This will see him come up against a completely different fighter to what he has experienced before. Despite the odds being overwhelmingly in the Brit’s favour, Miller will look to have his local crowd on his side and will be giving it all to pull off a major boxing upset.

Featured Image Credit: “Anthony Joshua in action with Wladimir K” (CC BY 2.0) by quapan