By Brian Webber: Heavyweight Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller will be emerging from a three-year layoff on face journeyman Ariel Esteban Bracamonte this Thursday, June 23rd, at the Casino Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 33-year-old Miller (22-2, 10 KOs) will be fighting for the first time since his fourth-round knockout victory over Bogdan Dinu on November 17th, 2018.
Miller’s once-promising career has taken a couple of hits with him testing positive for banned substances in 2019 and 2020, causing the cancellations of fights against Anthony Joshua and Jerry Forrest.
‘Big Baby’ had been scheduled to fight Joshua for his IBF, WBA & WBO titles in June 2019 in New York in a match that would have made Miller millions, but he tested positive for banned substances and was removed from the career.
Andy Ruiz Jr. was brought in as the replacement and stopped Joshua in the sixth round. Ruiz has become a millionaire due to ‘Big Baby’ Miller’s misfortune. It just shows you what dumb luck can do for a fighter.
‘Big Baby’ Miller should be a wealthy millionaire by now, but his positive drug tests have messed up his opportunities to change his life.
Miller’s inactivity likely won’t be a problem for him against the 29-year-old Argentinian journeyman Bracamonte because he’s lost to much lower-level opposition than him throughout his five-year professional career.
Hopefully, Miller doesn’t test positive again and have this fight wiped out too. That would be a massive blow for what’s left of Miller’s tarnished career.
With that said, it’s unlikely that Miller will ever get a chance to fight one of the big names in the heavyweight division due to his two positive drug tests.
While ‘Big Baby’ Miller is still young enough to slowly work his way to a mandatory spot to challenge for a world title, it’s not realistic that will happen.
For the sanctioning bodies to make Miller mandatory for one of the world titles, he will need to be active with his career and beat a top contender. Fighting once every three years isn’t going to get the job done for the 6’4″, 300+ lb Miller.
It’ll be interesting to see how Miller performs on Thursday against the little-known Bracamonte. If Miller shows his old form and chops him down, he could create interest from boxing fans, as long as he doesn’t fail the drug test for the fight.
For Miller to get a title shot, he will need to stay active, fight as often as possible, and face upper-tier opposition.
The Brooklyn, New York native Miller has always been a slow, plodding type of heavyweight, and he would be a big target for contenders like Joe Joyce, Felip Hrgovic, Frank Sanchez, Joseph Parker, Andy Ruiz Jr, or Martin Bakole.
Could Miller beat some or all of those guys? The Miller that we saw three to four years ago would have been a problem for those fighters due to his high punch output and his pressure style of fighting, but we don’t know if he’s capable of fighting like that now.
