Eddie Hearn, promoter of IBF, WBA “Super” and WBO heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua (22-0-0) admitted that it has been pretty tough to imitate the physical qualities of Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1) in training camp.
“AJ” will defend his belts against the American on June 1 in New York, as this will be his US soil debut. Even though Miller is not on Klitschko or Povetkin’s level, his physique is by far the most unusual Joshua will probably square up against throughout his whole career. The 30-year-old Brooklyn native is 1.93 cm tall and for his last fight against Bogdan Dinu, he weighed in over 140 kilos.
“There is no one really that big,” Joshua exclusively told Sky Sports.
Tick Tock. Tick tock. MSG June 1st 🗓 pic.twitter.com/i1X93oaQca
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) March 28, 2019
“It’s very difficult. I’m very hands-on in that respect, and I get involved with sparring. We select sparring partners between [Joshua’s trainer] Rob McCracken, AJ’s training team, and AJ and me,” Hearn added.
“To find a 23 st. guy, who moves fast, who has fast hands, who has a great engine, who forces the pressure, is very, very difficult. It’s impossible, to be honest, to imitate Jarrell Miller, in terms of weight, size, speed, feet, everything. We’re going to get as close as we can.
“We feel as though we’ve got a decent selection of guys. Joshua is very focused, he’s in a great place right now, he’s in Sheffield. He’ll probably do another three or four weeks there before he goes to Florida, and he’s got the bit between his teeth. The build-up was spicy. I think you’re going to see a great performance from Anthony Joshua in this fight.”
