Jarrell Miller believes Anthony Joshua can’t call himself a “true champion” because he lost his world titles in America.

Joshua was dethroned by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in 2019 when the Mexican-American replaced drug-cheat Miller at short notice. Joshua was stopped in the seventh round in a seismic shock before winning back his belts in Saudi Arabia six months later.

Joshua and Miller will be on the same card for the first time when they take on Otto Wallin and Daniel Dubois respectively on December 23. And Miller has reignited his row with Joshua having returned from a drugs ban to win three fights in succession.

“AJ’s a punk b****. Eddie Hearn has been protecting him long enough. It’s about time he came back to America,” Miller told Boxing News. “He came to America, Andy Ruiz – I call him Taco Bell, not racist because I’m half Mexican – whooped his ass and he has not been back since.

“At least give me a chance to knock you out in America at some point. You can’t be a true champion if you come to America, get your ass whooped and never come back. Tyson came to America, conquered and left. He’s a real world champion.” Fury won his current world title by beating Deontay Wilder in their second fight before defending it in his trilogy bout with his great rival.

Hearn, meanwhile, has backed Joshua to impress when he returns to action two days before Christmas. Hearn said: “This is a tough fight. We saw (Wallin) against Tyson Fury, he’s a good southpaw and we have seen something different from AJ (Joshua).

“I think the best chapter is still to write for AJ. He changed the face of Saudi boxing and this is a challenge he wants to take. He wants to be heavyweight champion again and I think this will be a destructive performance from him. This lines everything up for AJ and this lines up his whole career. I can’t wait to see him shine on December 23.”