Jarrell Miller has taken a swipe at Eddie Hearn, blasting the promoter for not “playing by the rules” as well as painting him as a “scapegoat” following his doping violation.
Last year, the American was supposed to fight Anthony Joshua for his IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles at Madison Square Garden on June 1 until he failed a series of Voluntary Anti-Doping Association tests in late March.
He served a six-month ban as a result.
Miller tested positive for human growth hormone, EPO, and GW1516, which ended his hopes of challenging for the belts – with Andy Ruiz Jnr taking his place at Madison Square Garden instead.
The handling of the situation by Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, still rankles with “Big Baby” who accuses the head of Matchroom Promotions of looking to protect himself and his brand first before the fighter.
“You have people that have a bigger following than me that are going to put their personal story first. And that’s what Eddie did with Matchroom. He was under fire from DAZN for it, so I was their scapegoat,” he told BonusCodeBets.co.uk.
“Any big business or corporation always find a scapegoat, so why not blame it on the big brash American? Make him look the bad guy and meanwhile he [Eddie] can run for the clear.
“I kept things cordial with Eddie because of DAZN. People from DAZN were messaging me to say ‘keep your head up’ and ‘stay positive’, ‘we’d love to see you again’. And then for Eddie Hearn to say the total opposite, it’s mixed messages. What Eddie put on camera, he never said that to my face.
“I always try to be someone who I would look up to, but what I’ve learnt is: if you understand where the bad guy is coming from, that’s when you understand life. Because nobody on top of their game is really the good guy, they may look like the model citizen, but there’s always something going on.
“Where I come from 80 per cent of the time the villain always wins, because when you do everything by the book, you leave your hands tied – you have to be that person who sees outside the box.
“If multi-millionaires play by all the rules, they wouldn’t be where they are at – so with some of these promoters like Eddie Hearn, they say these crazy, outrageous things, they don’t play by the rules all the time. That’s a fact.”
Miller has been out of the ring since November 2018 when he knocked out Bogdan Dinu.
However, despite his inactivity, the 31-year-old is confident in his ability – believing he is the best heavyweight in the world.
“I am number two in the world, the only reason I am not number one is because I don’t have no belt, I know I am a better fighter than all of these guys,” he continued.
“I’m better than AJ, I’m better than Tyson, I’m better than Deontay [Wilder], I only call myself number two because I don’t have that belt. I’m going to be world champ.”
