American heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller 21-0-1 (18) is refusing to travel to face Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev 25-1 (13) in a final IBF eliminator that would determine the next challenger to unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
The Brooklyn heavyweight, who goes by the moniker “Big Baby”, was expected to travel to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia but his promoter Dmitry Salita has ruled that out and says that they will pursue other opportunities if Pulev isn’t prepared to meet them on US soil.
“Jarrell is interested in a fight with Pulev, but not in Sofia,” Salita told Sky Sports. “We’re still in discussions about that fight. From what I understand, they’ve had some discussions about not doing the fight in the United States. I think there is an openness to it, but obviously they would have to comment on that.”
One possibility according to Salita is a fight with WBA “regular” titleholder Manuel Charr 31-4 (17) who has been ordered to defend the second-tier title against inactive 45-year-old Fres Oquendo 37-8 (24) in Cologne, Germany in September. The Puerto Rican-born American lost a disputed majority decision to then-WBA titleholder Ruslan Chagaev in a Grozny ring four years ago, ultimately resulting in a court ruling enforcing Oquendo’s right to a rematch.
The WBA “super” champion is, of course, Anthony Joshua 21-0 (20).
“Jarrell wants meaningful fights. He wants to fight the best fighters in the world, he wants to progress his career. As a result of the last fight, when he beat Johann Duhaupas, he became the mandatory to fight the winner of Charr-Oquendo, so that is something that we’re interested in,” said Salita.
“There was also talk about Jarrell fighting Anthony Joshua. Anthony was rumoured to come to the United States for his US debut.
“It was something that I believe [promoter] Eddie [Hearn] and Jarrell talked about right after his last win, which was a very impressive win. As we see in boxing, things change from day to day.”
If Miller backs out of the Pulev fight it would open the door for IBF number five Hughie Fury to step in and fill the void.
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