Anthony Joshua’s American debut will still go ahead but his challenger Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller allegedly tested positive for a banned substance and has had his New York boxing licence revoked.
It’s understood that Miller failed a doping test for banned substance GW1516.
The heavyweights were scheduled to fight on June 1 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, with Joshua defending his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles.
Miller, although an outsider, is a behemoth of a man in both stature and personality.
Ahead of the fight, the pre-sale tickets took just two hours to sell out and broke an MSG record. It became the highest grossing pre-sale in the history of the arena.
The results have come to public attention after a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association-conducted urine test Miller submitted to on March 20th.
GW1516, also known as cardarine and endurobol, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list and classified as a metabolic modulator. It must be said that the list has been criticised in the past for being too long and having far too many substances on it.
It now looks likely that Luis Ortiz will fight Joshua instead on June 1st in Madison Square Garden.