Can’t get suspended for PEDs if you aren’t licensed.
Jarrell Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) should be preparing for a heavyweight title fight vs. Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs), but it turns out his “preparation” involved such illegal substances as EPO, HGH, and Endurabol. Three VADA drug test results revealed Miller as having been in his system, so he’s out of the June 1st date.
Because VADA only takes the tests and doesn’t have actual jurisdiction for punishment, the expectation was that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) would drop the hammer on “Big Baby” pretty severely.
Not so fast.
Miller’s license in New York has expired, so per the commission’s own statement to Mike Coppinger, there is technically nothing they can do.
NEWS: Much speculation around Jarrell Miller’s potential suspension after three PEDs found in his system. Well, he allowed his boxing license to expire in N.Y. “No disciplinary actions can be taken at the moment as he is not currently licensed with NYSAC,” the commission told me.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) April 25, 2019
If Miller’s license was active, then NYSAC could’ve banned him and other commissions would’ve then honored it.
The sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO) can suspend him in the form of dropping him from their rankings and rendering him ineligible to fight for any of their titles. They cannot, however, prevent him from actually boxing.
Unlike the UFC, where this many drug test failures would probably see him get thwacked by USADA, there is no governing body for boxing that can do anything similar. So the fate of Miller’s career is theoretically in the hands of athletic commissions, and their willingness to license Jarrell in the face of perhaps the most flagrant stretch of drug cheating we’ve seen in some time.
I suppose the only punishment here is that Miller cost himself a $6.5 million payday against Joshua, but an actual ban from boxing is something he’s escaped.