Heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller explained his reasons for rejected a potential fight with Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce.

Joyce was in action this past weekend, in only his eight pro fight, and battered former WBC world champion Bermane Stiverne for a sixth round stoppage at the O2 Arena in London.

In the past, Joyce has called for a fight with Miller. He feels confident in his ability to topple the big heavyweight.

On June 1, Miller will challenge IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world champion Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Miller explained that he's only rejected two fights in the past - one with Cuban heavyweight puncher Luis Ortiz and another with Joyce.

He says the fight with Joyce was not gong to pay enough, and the fight with Ortiz was not going to guarantee him a crack at WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

Miller was not impressed with Joyce's performance.

“The only time I had options on the table I think was Bogdan Dinu and then Joe Joyce came around. Now he calling me – he looked like total sh*t against [Bermane] Stiverne by the way – but I was like, OK, why am I going to fight Joe Joyce? He has no money, they’re offering me like £50,000! You’re out of your mind, you have no money, you have to earn your way. No money at 33? That’s your problem," Miller told Talk Sport.

“HBO offered me [Luis] Ortiz a couple of years ago and it was like ‘OK, if I beat Ortiz – when I beat Ortiz – are you going to give me a shot at the WBC champ Deontay Wilder?’

“They said ‘Oh we don’t know’ – I’m not gonna take a hard, tough fight if you’re not going to give me any guarantees. That’s the only time I turned down Ortiz because there was no guarantees for that pot of gold at the end.”