Anthony Joshua is sparring British amateur heavyweight, Solomon Dacres ahead of his bout with Jarrell Miller, reports talksport.com.
The WBA, IBF and WBO king is set to make his U.S. debut at MSG in New York on June 1 and is now in training, preparing for the contest.
Dacres is a boxing amateur who works alongside AJ at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
He won gold at the 2017 England Boxing Elite National Championships (ABAs) – a competition Joshua himself conquered in 2010 and 2011.
A couple of notable bouts on Solomon Dacres’ amateur slate include a defeat to Daniel Dubois and win over Mihai Nistor – who knocked AJ out in 2011.
Dacres now competes in the WSB ( Series Boxing), which is effectively a semi-pro competition designed to help amateurs prepare to turn professional.
He previously sparred Anthony Joshua in the build-up to the Joseph Parker fight.
Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn says Joshua will find it “impossible” to prepare for Jarrell Miller in his upcoming world heavyweight title defence, reports independence.co.uk.
The Brit will defend his IBF, WBA and WBO titles at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 1. But Miller, also known as ‘Big Baby,’ has comfortably exceeded 300 pounds in his last three fights, which Hearn claims is making preparation difficult.
“It’s very difficult (to find sparring partners),” Hearn told Sky Sports. “I’m very hands-on in that respect, and I get involved with sparring. We select sparring partners between [Joshua’s trainer] Rob McCracken, AJ’s training team, and AJ and me.
“To find a 23st guy, who moves fast, who has fast hands, who has a great engine, who forces the pressure, is very, very difficult.
“It’s impossible, to be honest, to [imitate] Jarrell Miller, in terms of weight, size, speed, feet, everything. We’re going to get as close as we can.
“We feel as though we’ve got a decent selection of guys.
“[Joshua] is very focused, he’s in a great place right now, he’s in Sheffield. He’ll probably do another three or four weeks there before he goes to Florida, and he’s got the bit between his teeth.
“The build-up was spicy. I think you’re going to see a great performance from Anthony Joshua in this fight.”
