Fabio Wardley has revealed that VADA testing was his first request on the contract for the June 7 clash with former drug cheat Jarrell Miller at Portman Road.

The pair nearly came to blows at Monday’s launch press conference on the pitch at the home of Ipswich Town Football Club ahead of what promises to be an eventful build-up to the summer fight.

And Wardley is confident that Miller will make it to fight night, unlike in the New Yorker’s scheduled 2019 fight with another Brit, Anthony Joshua.

The pair had been scheduled to fight at Madison Square Garden in the June of that year only for adverse findings in two of Miller’s pre-fight VADA tests to force the cancellation of that meeting. Instead Joshua faced Andy Ruiz and was stopped after seven rounds at Madison Square Garden in one of heavyweight boxing’s biggest upsets.

Meanwhile, Miller was eventually banned for two years and ultimately did not box between his victory over Bogdan Dinu in 2018 and his comeback fight against Ariel Esteban Bracamonte in the June of 2022.

Since that fourth-round win over Bracamonte, the 36-year-old has boxed four more times without failing any drugs tests but Wardley says he is still wary of his history and was adamant that the procedure would be water tight for their encounter.

“We have got VADA testing and that was extremely important,” Wardley told Ring Magazine. “For me it was the f****ing first line of the contract. It better be.

“He does have his history but he has got through a number of fights since then without being popped. I don’t know how much testing there was for those fights but all I’m concerned about is a fair fight.

“If he beats me in a fair fight, then cool. I’ll shake his hand and say ‘well done you, big up’. But if he beats me by cheating and he’s got drugs in his system then it’s not something I can let lie.

“Look how dangerous this game can be without drugs. You stick drugs in a 300lb man and this could get to the back end of double dangerous. We want to make sure that’s clear and under control. It will be strongly enforced.”

The show’s promoter Frank Warren confirmed that the two fighters will not only be subject to VADA testing, which has been paid for, but also by UKAD, who were on hand to test both fighters in Ipswich on Monday.

“British fight fans will remember what happened before the AJ fight,” Warren said. “It was dreadful.

“For this fight, there is VADA testing and UKAD testing. He will be tested while he’s here for this press conference too.

"But there was no hesitation to bring him in for this fight because he’s being tested. He was tested before the fight against Daniel Dubois in 2023 and the British Boxing Board of Control ran the event in Riyadh. He passed everything there.

“He knows what is expected of him and if he fails anything then he won’t be fighting, it’s as simple as that.”