Anthony Joshua will not fight Dillian Whyte on June 1

The search is on to find Anthony Joshua an opponent for his US debut after challenger Jarrell Miller was denied a fight license after reportedly failing a drugs test. However, according to promoter Eddie Hearn, AJ’s June 1 opponent will definitely not be long-time rival Dillian Whyte.

On Tuesday, Hearn confirmed that a March 20 doping test administered to Miller by VADA had returned an adverse finding for the PED GW1516, also known as endurobol. While at the time he claimed Joshua would continue preparations for the Madison Square Garden showdown with ‘Big Baby’, the New York State Athletic Commission subsequently refused to issue a license to Miller. That essentially meant the fight was declared all but off – Miller’s only saving grace would be if his ‘B’ sample were to come back clean, but in reality, this is a very rarely seen event.

We have been informed by VADA that there has been an adverse finding in Jarrell Miller’s sample collected on March 20th, 2019. We are working with all relevant parties and will update with more details soon. AJ’s preparation continues for June 1st at MSG.

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) April 17, 2019

As a result, Hearn’s Matchroom have sprung into action, in the hopes of securing a short-notice opponent of sufficient name value for WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion Joshua. Many had called for fellow Brit Whyte to get the nod. Despite being bested by Joshua back in 2015, in which he was handed his only career loss, the Londoner has compiled an impressive nine-fight winning streak in the years since, including critically acclaimed victories over Dereck Chisora (twice) and Joseph Parker.

AJ’s team ‘want an American challenger’

However, June 1 will come too soon for ‘The Body Snatcher’, according to Hearn. When pressed by Sky Sports on whether Whyte could represent a feasible option, he replied: “Not really. Dillian Whyte has got a big fight locked in; that’s in July. From our point of view, we’d like an American challenger, really. So I don’t think it will be Dillian Whyte.”

Instead, Hearn pointed to names including Luis Ortiz, Adam Kownacki, Michael Hunter, Manuel Charr and European champion Agit Kabayel as being more likely for consideration. He admitted that the Miller fight now looked ‘extremely unlikely’ despite the formality of the ‘B’ sample being tested, but that there was no shortage of willing opponents when it came to finding a replacement.

‘Big Baby’s apparent failure comes as somewhat ironic; during the pre-fight buildup, the 30-year-old has consistently accused Joshua of using performance-enhancing drugs. Instead, it seems that it will be Miller himself that is forced to miss out on the biggest payday of his career as a result of alleged doping violations.