“Big Baby” was taking all the PEDs, apparently.
Jarrell Miller didn’t fail just one VADA drug test, he went for the triple crown of popping for PEDs.
“Big Baby” (23-0-1, 20 KOs) was already scratched from a June 1st main event showdown vs. unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) after testing positive for GW1516 (Endurabol) in an out-of-competition sample. As it turns out, his other two tests were also dirty in separate ways.
It was reported by ESPN’s Dan Rafael that Miller’s second test came back positive for human growth hormone (HGH), and his third one showed GW1516 and Erythropoietin (EPO). Obviously EPO is topical in the MMA community because T.J. Dillashaw recently lost his UFC bantamweight title due to popping for EPO in a test conducted prior to his January defeat vs. flyweight champion Henry Cejudo.
“Salita Promotions and Greg Cohen Promotions are very disappointed in these findings and feel awful fight fans will be deprived of what would have been a great fight,” Dmitriy Salita and Greg Cohen, Miller’s co-promoters, told ESPN in a joint statement following the revelation of the positive test. “It’s a terrible outcome and unfortunate situation for all parties involved.”
Counting his 2014 failure in GLORY kickboxing for methylhexaneamine, this makes for four failed drug tests for Miller in his combat sports career. That takes some doing, and even more incredible that he had three banned substances in his system all detected during his prep for facing Joshua.
Miller first denied any wrongdoing when the first failure came out. He appears to have finally given up the ghost on the third failure, admitting that he “messed up” and handled the situation “wrongly.”
Miller was guaranteed nearly $5 million in purse money, with more to come from UK PPV revenue. He would’ve also had a total of $3 million over his next two fights on DAZN even if he’d lost to Joshua. Instead, all of that is off the table.
Needless to say, it appears as if we now know why he had such good cardio and high-volume punch stats for a 300+ lbs boxer.
VADA does not have any jurisdiction when it comes to punishment, so Miller’s fate presumably lies with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). The circumstances surrounding his case could lead to a pretty lengthy suspension. I don’t think I have ever seen an instance of someone failing this many tests in one cluster and for so many substances.
Joshua’s replacement opponent will be announced next week, per Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn. In his words, “Clean fighters only need apply.”