Jarrell Miller Vows To Make Andy Ruiz Pay For Taking His ‘Big Check’
Jarrell Miller says he will make Andy Ruiz pay in their heavyweight bout on Saturday after ‘Big Baby’ paved the way for the defining, and most lucrative, moment of the Mexican-American’s career.
Back in June 2019, Miller was scheduled to face unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden, but the New Yorker failed a drug test in the weeks leading up to the bout. He was denied a license by the New York State Athletic Commission and was subsequently suspended for six months.
Ruiz stepped in a relatively short notice and delivered one of the greatest shocks in boxing history, climbing off the canvas in the third to stop the unbeaten Joshua in the seventh round. His reign as the WBA, WBO, and IBF world champion proved short-lived; AJ snatched back the belts in the immediate rematch five months later in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz earned enormous money for his two bouts with Joshua. He pocketed a reported $7 million for the first fight in New York and almost doubled it for the rematch in Saudi Arabia – by far the biggest purses of his career before or since.
Miller suggested that he feels those paydays should have been his – despite being found guilty to have taken performance enhancers – and is ready to take out his frustration on Ruiz in Los Angeles this weekend.
Miller Vows To Destroy Ruiz
“This fight is not personal,” said Miller (26-1-1 22 KO). “Andy replaced me a couple of years ago and got that big check and now I have to f*** him up. I’m going to turn his ass into burritos and nachos after this one.
“I feel great. I haven’t been eating like my man Andy here. I put down the tacos, burritos, the burgers and hard work baby. I come to win. I come to knock people out. I destroy people. He may be the ‘Destroyer’ but I’m the one who destroys people. Ready to work.
“This is the opportunity to get back what I’ve lost. Me and Eddie [Hearn, Joshua’s promoter] have a bromance hell or behave relationship. But that’s life. You become a man. Have a conversation and sort things out and move on and move forward.”
Miller v Ruiz is one of several fascinating bouts at the BMO Stadium in L.A as part of the stacked Riyadh Season card headlined by Terence Crawford’s attempt to become a four-weight world champion against WBA super-welterweight title holder Israil Madrimov.
Miller enters the bout following the first loss of his career when, in December in Riyadh, he got stopped in the 10th and final round by Daniel Dubois, who has since moved on to become the IBF world champion.
Ruiz Wants World Titles Back
Ruiz (35-2-0 22 KO), on the other hand, is ending almost two years of inactivity. He last fought in September 2022 when he claimed a points win over Luis Ortiz. Since then, he has endured fitness and personal problems, and in November last year underwent shoulder surgery on a torn rotator cuff.
“Burritos and nachos have been helping win all my fights and become champion of the world so nothing wrong about that,” Ruiz said in response to Miller. “And that is exactly what I’m going to do on August 3. I’m going to win. I’m going to get this victory and this victory will be for God.
“No matter how tall you are, how big you are and how much muscle you have, it’s all about what you have inside. And I have a big heart. I feel really good. I feel sharp. We did all the hard work in the gym. Yes, I had a two-year layoff but that doesn’t mean that I was outside of the gym. I was still training. I was still disciplined. Even through my ups and downs, God was with me and that’s why we are going to win on Saturday night.
“I had it all and I want it back. I was the unified heavyweight champion of the world and then boom. It went away. I want it back and I have to do. I know exactly what I did wrong. And I know what I have to do to get it all back.”
