Partners In History & Legal Woes, Ruiz And Miller Finally Cross Paths

You never know what might come from desperation. People writing you off, dismissing you, making you feel irrelevant. It can have a profound psychological effect on a fighter that could either light a fire in his belly – or make him timid and self-conscious. Last week, desperation gave us the former, as old warhorse Derek Chisora and slumping Olympic hero Joe Joyce put on a classic in London that revived both fighters’ careers.

Will desperation produce the same results when Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller takes on former unified heavyweight champion – and his replacement in history – Andy Ruiz as part of the huge Terence Crawford–Israil Madrimov card at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles (6:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, PPV.com)?

Whatever happens, this is one of the strangest – yet most fitting – heavyweight matchups the division can offer. It’s both needless – and necessary. Insignificant – yet intriguing. Two fighters who share an all-time role reversal and profoundly checkered pasts – but who never actually crossed paths. Both once again reaching for unlikely – some would say undeserved – heavyweight glory.

The Book On “Big Baby”

Let’s start with Miller. Back in 2018, the Brooklynite was supposedly the next big thing. And, by big, we mean big. At 6-foot-4, the appropriately-monikered “Big Baby” weighed 296 ½ in a third-round knockout of Fred Kassi, 298 3/4 in an eighth-round stoppage of former title challenger Gerald Washington, 283 ¾ in a knockout of Mariusz Wach, and 304 ½ in a decision over another former title challenger, Johann Duhaupas. For his breakout performance against former cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek in 2018, Miller weighed in at a then career-high 317.

But, despite his girth, Big Baby could fight. He whacked out poor Adamek with ease, dropping the tough but outsized Pole with a surprising combination of power and ability while raising his record to 22-0-1. The battered Adamek never fought again. One fight followed, a knockout of journeyman Bogdan Dinu before Miller was slated to embark on his dream and fight Anthony Joshua for the IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight championship of the world beneath the bright lights of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Joshua vs. Miller. June 1, 2019. It was a great matchup between giant, undefeated punchers at the Mecca of Boxing. Who could ask for more? That’s when Miller began an epic binge of mindless self-destruction that has continued to this day. Hours before the fight of his life, Miller tested positive for a cocktail of illegal substances that would make Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong blush. It included Endurobol, EPO, and HGH. He was dropped from the card, suspended by the powers-that-be, and deservedly forgotten.

Enter “The Destroyer”

The plump Mexican-American Ruiz also had a problem with weight, often entering the ring looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy. But when he flashed those fast fists, no one was laughing – least of all his opponents. “The Destroyer” dropped a majority decision to Joseph Parker for the WBO heavyweight title in 2016, but looked good doing it, and the nod was controversial despite it being in Parker’s native New Zealand.

Then, in April 2019, Ruiz massacred Alexander Dimitrenko in five rounds, looking like a Mexican Mike Tyson. So when Miller tested positive for all of the illegal drugs known to man, and Ruiz’s name was called six weeks after the Dimitrenko win – the timing could not have been better for the native of Imperial, California. Of course, Ruiz then scored the mammoth upset as a last-minute replacement for Miller, rising from a second-round knockdown to drop Joshua five times and become the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent in boxing history. It was Buster Douglas over Tyson all over again. Ruiz was a star, a history maker, and the toast of boxing.

But the Destroyer proved to be every bit as self-destructive as Big Baby, weighing a career-high 283 ½ for the Joshua rematch six months later and barely winning an exchange. Like Douglas two decades earlier, Ruiz entered the limelight with a wham and exited with a whimper. He did, however, pick up $10 million along the way – which could be the reason for both his legal troubles and his lack of enthusiasm for boxing. The road has been rocky for both fighters since.

Rocky Road 

Ruiz, 35-2 (22 KOs), has fought just twice in four years, outpointing Chris Arreola in 2021 and Luis Ortiz in 2022. But mostly, the 34-year-old has been besieged with legal problems. Among them: his ex-girlfriend obtained a permanent restraining order against Ruiz earlier this year after he allegedly pointed an AK-47 in her face and sexually assaulted her.

Miller, 26-1-1 (22 KOs), was scheduled to take on Jerry Forrest in 2020, but again he failed a pre-fight drug test. The 36-year-old lost the first fight of his career in December, dropping a nod to interim IBF champ Daniel Dubois.  Big Baby weighed 333 pounds, and earlier this year, he was arrested in Florida and charged with carjacking. His career seemed over, just like Ruiz’s career seemed over. But here they are, with yet another chance.

Both guys are said to be training hard for a change. That’s what desperation can do. It can make you better or make you worse. Saturday, we’ll see if we get Chisora-Joyce again or something much less satisfying.

Matthew Aguilar may be reached at maguilarnew@yahoo.com

Matthew Aguilar

Matthew Aguilar is a columnist and sportswriter. Over his nearly 30-year writing career, he has contributed to Associated Press, USA Today, The RING, Ringside Seat, Boxing Weekly, many newspapers within the Gannett newspaper company and his hometown El Paso Times, where he covered everything from college football and basketball to rodeo. Now based in Chicago, he is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Transnational Boxing Rankings and is a voter for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the El Paso Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.

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