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By Dan Ambrose: In a significant blow to Top Rank, Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller reportedly has tested for a performance-enhancing substance, and his scheduled July 9 fight against Jerry Forrest has now been canceled. Mike Coppinger is reporting the news.

The 32-year-old ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) and Forrest were supposed to be fighting on ESPN, but those plans are now dashed for the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’ll be interesting to see how long Miller is suspended. Of course, you never know with these things. Some fighters blame positive tests on contamination from food and supplements. Famous fighter Canelo Alvarez blamed his positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol on eating tainted meat in Mexico.

‘Big Baby’ Miller’s second strike

This would be the second strike for Miller in testing positive for PEDs, and we’ll have to see how lengthy suspension will be this time. While some fans are recommending on social media that the 6’4″, 300+ pound ‘Big Baby’ Miller be given a life ban, but that’s not going to happen.

Fighters are given many chances after testing positive, especially if they’re good at giving excuses for why they tested positive. Contaminated nutritional products is a popular excuse used.

This is the second consecutive year in which the previously high-ranked Miller has tested positive for PEDS. In 2019, Miller was scheduled to challenge IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Unfortunately, Miller came up positive for three different banned substances, which resulted in the New York State Athletic Commission failing to license him.

Miller was later suspended for six months by the WBA, and he hasn’t fought in a year and a half since beating Bogdan Dinu on November 17, 2018.

Breaking: Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller has tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and has been pulled from July 9 fight with Jerry Forrest on ESPN, sources tell The Athletic. Miller was set to fight Anthony Joshua last year before testing positive for three PEDs

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 27, 2020

So there it is. Miller has tested positive for a banned PED, and his fight with Forrest is on ESPN is now off.  After missing out on a huge payday that would have set him up for life last year for his fight against Joshua, Big Baby has wrecked his second chance that he was given.

Arum reacts to Miller’s positive PED test

It’s hard to imagine outside promoters wanting to set up a match with their fighter and Big Baby Miller after this. However, Top Rank can always schedule Miller against no-name opposition and possibly use him as an opponent for Tyson Fury, but they would be criticized if they make that move.

“I’m learning this from you,” Miller’s promoter Bob Arum said to The Ring. “Nobody has called me or told me anything. Obviously, if he has tested positive for a PED, he’s not fighting. But I never heard that.”

What a disappointment this is because Miller would have had a chance to be a significant player in the heavyweight division if he could have picked up a few solid wins under his belt. That’s not to say that Miller still can’t come back from this, but it’s not going to be easy.

If ‘Big Baby’ is suspended for the remainder of 2020, he’ll be out of the ring for two years by the time he returns to action in 2021.

I really don’t know. Don’t think he’s an evil guy. Maybe it’s an addiction or psychological dependency. Still, completely unacceptable.

— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) June 27, 2020

With the pandemic going on, there weren’t a lot of chances for Miller to be involved in a big fight this year anyway. As such, Miller testing positive in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic might not be as bad as if he had come up positive after it’s ended whoever that is.