Today in London, the official press conference for the “Day Of Reckoning” card took place. The December 23 card to go ahead in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a stacked one, and almost all of the fighters who will be in action took part in today’s presser (Frank Sanchez didn’t show, the unbeaten Cuban to face New Zealand’s Junior Fa on the card).
The full line-up of fights is as follows:
- Anthony Joshua V. Otto Wallin
- Deontay Wilder Vs. Joseph Parker
- Filip Hrgovic Vs. Mark Di Mori
- Dmitry Bivol-Lyndon Arthur
- Jai Opetaia Vs. Ellis Zorro
- Daniel Dubois Vs. Jarrell Miller
- Arslanbek Makhmuudov Vs. Agit Kabayel
- Frank Sanchez Vs. Junior Fa
A heck of a line-up, for sure.
Today’s presser was a relatively polite affair all around, with all fighters showing their upcoming opponents respect. There was, however, one exception. Jarrell Miller, to nobody’s surprise, let loose with some foul language and some trash-talk. “Big Baby” began by telling Daniel Dubois how he will “tear his head off” on December 23, with Miller calling Dubois a “quitter” – “he quit against Joe Joyce,” Miller said, adding how he can “smell b***h” in Dubois.
“Bring it on,” a noticeably angry Dubois said, his smile forced.
Miller then started in on Anthony Joshua. Stating on the podium how AJ doesn’t want to fight him or “anyone with a heartbeat,” Miller then spoke some chilling words about the possible Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight of next year (assuming both former champions take care of business on December 23).
“We all know for a fact that AJ don’t want no smoke with Deontay,” Miller began. “As much as I don’t like Deontay, I know he would put that motherf****r in the grave. So I’ll make it easy for you [Joshua] – either fight Deontay and go to the grave or fight me and go to the hospital.”
“Shut the f**k up, Miller, don’t start with me,” Joshua shot back. “You know I’ll come over and slap you, and I see you’ve brought your mum here, she needs her rent paid. Watch your mouth or I’ll slap it for you.”
The brief exchange was quite tense and a fan might be forgiven for now wanting to see Joshua and Miller fight (this despite the fact that Miller, with his poor track record for testing clean in drugs tests, doesn’t deserve a huge payday of a fight).
Joshua was without doubt genuinely angry, with Miller pushing some buttons. Who knows, maybe Joshua and Miller WILL fight some time next year.
For now, we have a good card to look forward to on December 23.
