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Eddie Hearn is clearly no fan of his former, disgraced heavyweight client Jarrell Miller.
The Matchroom head used to promote Jarrell Miller, the brash heavyweight contender from Brooklyn whose career was derailed by a flurry of failed drug tests. But Hearn cut ties with him after Miller tested positive in three separate drug samples ahead of his scheduled title bout with Anthony Joshua, Hearn’s longtime star client, in 2019.
With the recent news that Miller is returning the sport upon serving a lengthy suspension, Hearn was less than enthused and offered little sympathy to an admittedly repeat offender. Miller is set to make his comeback against Onoriode Ehwarieme in the headliner of a Triller Fight Club card on June 25.
“Regarding fighters that failed drug tests I do genuinely believe that fighters fail drug tests that have genuinely made mistakes,” Hearn told IFL TV. “When a fighter fails a drug test, 99.9% of the time they said they made a mistake, so it’s very difficult to judge who’s made a mistake and who hasn’t. By the way, if you make a mistake, tough sh!t as well, believe me it’s a different circumstance.
“Jarrell Miller has repeatedly failed drug tests. The reason I take it so personally with him is he failed two or maybe was it three, don’t quote me, four around the Anthony Joshua fight. And when you read what it is and you know that it was injected into him, I believe that he did that to win that fight. I believe he did that to cause physical harm to Anthony Joshua in that fight.”
After the Joshua debacle, Miller would go on and test positive again for a banned substance, GW501516, a fat burner, the following year, 2020, ahead of his scheduled bout with Jerry Forrest in Las Vegas. The kerfuffle led to Miller being handed a suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Miller’s suspension ends on June 16. As part of a deal he cut with the commission, Miller can fight immediately just so long as he continues to participate in random drug testing administered by VADA.
Miller also tested positive for a banned substance in 2014, when he was a kickboxer.
Hearn, though, suggested that Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) should not be given a second time. At the very least, Hearn said Miller is essentially persona non grata to him.
“I take that very personally, whether he cares or not,” Hearn said. “How many [drug tests] has he failed in his career? Three, or something like that. Can you honestly give the benefit of the doubt to Jarrell Miller? For me, no. But bans are put in place and when bans are up everybody has the right to do what they want.”
“I would never work with him again. Maybe he doesn’t care. I don’t mind Jarrell Miller. I think he’s a good guy with a decent heart, but there’s an underlying issue as to why this guy wants to do that. So, I wish him all the best. We will never work with him again. Because it’s not just about what happened there but stuff that he said as well. It’s not for me.”
There is one silver lining. Hearn expects Miller’s comeback to instigate the return of some payment in arrears, presumably a training advance from the Joshua fight.
“Well, he owes me money, because when he fights again, I’m going to get paid,” Hearn said.