Drug-cheat Jarrell Miller pushed his opponent during a face-off after tipping the scales at 341.75lb for his boxing return.
The heavyweight boxer has piled on 26.5lb, or nearly two-stone, since his last fight back in 2018 against Bogdan Dinu after being stopped from fighting for multiple drug test failures. He looks set to finally fight again for the first time in almost four years against Ariel Esteban Bracamonte after tipping the scales at a colossal weight that's almost 100lb heavier than his career lightest.
He faced off with Bracamonte, who came in over 36lb lighter, at the pre-fight weigh-in for the ironically named Knock Out a Las Drogas , or 'Knock Out drugs' event at the Casino Buenos Aires in Argentina. The confrontation became physical when Miller, who looked laboured in his movement, pushed his opponent away before heading back to the scales.
Miller was infamously supposed to fight Anthony Joshua back in 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. However, he tested positive for multiple banned substances on more than one occasion, including human growth hormone EPO and GW501516.
Instead, Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn brought in the relatively unknown Andy Ruiz Jr., who would go on to knock out Joshua and became unified heavyweight champion. The Brit won his belts back from Ruiz and defended them once before dropping them to Oleksandr Usyk last September, and hasn't fought in America since the Ruiz bout.
"I messed up," Miller said in a statement after the Joshua bout fell through. "There were a lot of ways to handle the situation; I handled it wrongly, and I'm paying a price for it.
"I messed up a big opportunity, and I'm hurting on the inside. My heart is bleeding right now—I hurt my family, my friends, my team, my supporters. But I'm owning up to it. I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to correct it. I'm going to come back better, and I'm humbled by the experience."
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Miller was then given another chance at top-level boxing by Bob Arum and Top Rank, despite controversy and disavowing statements from other promoters such as Hearn. But weeks out from his proposed July 2020 meeting with Jerry Forrest, he again tested positive for a banned substance and was pulled from the card.
He returned to prominence earlier this year when he was drafted into Tyson Fury's camp for his world heavyweight title defence against Dillian Whyte. Miller flew to the UK to train with Fury alongside former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, much to the chagrin of many fans.
The boxer is hopeful that he can forge a return to the sports' top table, although it appears that most major American and British promotions have little interest in him. His opponent for his fast-approaching fight has an unimpressive record of 11 wins and seven defeats.
