Jarrell Miller’s 2024 has gotten off to an even worse start than 2023 ended for the heavyweight contender.
Less than two weeks after suffering his first professional loss to Daniel Dubois, Brooklyn’s Miller was arrested Tuesday in Hollywood, Florida. According to an arrest report released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, Miller was charged with carjacking without a firearm or weapon and burglary with assault or battery.
Miller, 35, remained in custody as of early Wednesday evening. His bond was set at $30,000.
According to the website of WSVN-7, a television station in Miami, Miller stole a Black Dodge Ram pickup truck from Haims Motors, a car dealership in Hollywood. The truck was recently repossessed by the dealership, but Miller, with assistance from an unidentified woman, grabbed a dealership employee from behind, threw him to the ground and drove off in the truck.
The woman, WSVN-7 reported, told the employee she left her cell phone in the truck. When the employee retrieved the keys and brought her to the truck, Miller proceeded with what prosecutors called a planned attack during a court proceeding Wednesday.
The truck had a tracker installed in it, which led to police arresting Miller nearby.
His arrest was the latest in a string of self-inflicted problems for the besmirched Miller outside of the ring.
Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) was infamously removed from his shot at then-champion Anthony Joshua’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles in April 2019 because he tested positive for four banned performance-enhancing drugs. That PED ordeal cost Miller an approximate $5 million payday and led to his late replacement, Andy Ruiz Jr., stopping Joshua in the seventh round of their June 2019 bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Miller failed another PED test prior to a July 2020 fight against Jerry Forrest at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. He subsequently served a two-year suspension.
The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Miller won three straight fights during his comeback before London’s Dubois stopped him in the 10th and final round of their December 21 bout on the Joshua-Otto Wallin undercard at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Miller also has been sued by promoter Dmitriy Salita, who seeks nearly $5 million in damages, mostly from purses Miller squandered by failing PED tests.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.