That’s one name off the six-man shortlist.
Eddie Hearn had reportedly compiled a list of six potential candidates to step in for Jarrell Miller to fight Anthony Joshua on June 1.
Miller was denied a licence to fight Joshua in the undefeated Brit’s US debut after failing multiple drug tests ahead of the bout in Madison Square Garden.
With Miller out and little time to find a replacement, Joshua’s camp quickly looked at potential stand-ins and arrived at six names.
Luis Ortiz, Michael Hunter and Manuel Charr were seemingly front-runners to be rushed into an expectedly lucrative clash with ‘AJ’, with both Trevor Bryan and Agit Kabayel viewed as last resorts and Andy Ruiz Jr mentioned by Hearn most recently as an outside shot.
One of fight fans’ preferred picks to fight Joshua in Miller’s absence was Ortiz, whose only career defeat came against WBC champion Deontay Wilder, but the Cuban veteran has announced that he is no longer in the running to fight Joshua.
Ortiz’s team has accused Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, of lowballing ‘King Kong’ with an offer that came nowhere close to the figure that one would expect for a world title challenge.
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A statement from Ortiz’s camp read: “It’s a no go for June 1…Sorry guys we where [sic] told to stay as quiet as possible and play possum until fight had been made because every time someone called out Luis it would be a gimmick to promote them self but it still didn’t work.
“We just received word from promoter it’s a no go and it was all a gimmick and Hearn’s low ball offers will not be accepted and no contract even ever got sent over so sorry to all the loyal fans.
“Luis really wanted this title shot.”
