By: Sean Crose

It was unquestionably one of the biggest upsets the sport had seen in years. Anthony Joshua entered the ring at Madison Square Garden that evening in early June with the expectation that he was going to impress American fans in his U.S. debut. Joshua was already a world renowned fighter, with his towering, chiseled appearance and high knockout ratio. He was a world champion, after all, one who had emerged from a war with Wladimir Klitschko victorious. He was now no doubt looking ahead to mega bouts with American Deontay Wilder and fellow Brit Tyson Fury.

Then the opening bell rang that evening at MSG and the sport of boxing – particularly heavyweight boxing – was turned on its head. After dropping challenger Andy Ruiz in the third, Joshua – and the boxing world – was stunned to see Ruiz drop defending WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion Joshua twice by round’s end. Ruiz went on to drop Joshua again in the seventh. Joshua got up, only to go down once more. After getting to his feet, Joshua appeared out of it, smiling and providing unclear answers to the referee’s questions, leading the referee to wisely stop the fight.

While it was indeed a shocking affair, Joshua proved he was tough enough to not allow a single – albeit brutal – loss define him. Switching to a more boxing oriented strategy, he went on to handily defeat Ruiz in the rematch that went down six months later in Saudi Arabia. Ruiz’ career has been quiet since that time while Joshua has had his ups and downs at the highest level of the sport. One has to wonder, however, how things might have turned out if, on that long ago night at Madison Square Garden, Joshua’s originally scheduled opponent, Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, had taken on the popular Englishman rather than Ruiz.

For it was Miller who was originally scheduled to face Joshua, not Ruiz. Indeed, Ruiz had to step in as a last minute opponent after Miller, who had become popular on television, was found to have the banned substance GW501516 in his system before the fight. Needless to say, the colorful contender subsequently  lost his chance to possibly dethrone Joshua, in a sense handing the victory and some world title belts to Ruiz in the process.

Both Joshua and Ruiz may not have perfect records, but unlike Miller, each has reached a moment of ring glory. Although Miller has a record of 27-1-2, he’s never held a world title. His last three fights consisted of a win, a loss, and a draw to Ruiz. And while it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Miller can once again get a title shot, he’s got to look good against Lenier Pero, a widely unknown heavy from Miami by way of Cuba this Saturday in Las Vegas.  And still the question remains:

What would have happened if Miller had shown up to fight Joshua in New York that long ago June night in 2019? For starters one has to ask whether or not Miller would be on performance enhancing drugs at the time. They certainly would have given him an unfair advantage over defending champion Joshua – but would it have been enough, though? Miller has never had Ruiz’ fast fists. Yet the man has  power to burn. If he landed on Joshua the way Ruiz did that night, Miller might have had the title of world champion on his resume. I’ve always suspected, though, that Joshua was concussed the first time Ruiz sent him to the mat. The guy just looked out there after that. Would Miller have had to outright concuss Joshua the way Ruiz had in order to win?

And again, what if Miller were to have entered the ring in Madison Square Garden clean? Would he be able to perform as well as he had previously? The truth is, no one can tell. Miller let himself down, though, that much is certain. Yet, if he finds a way to achieve ring glory as he closes in on 40, Miller would see that much would be forgiven of his past transgressions. Few things can alter a reputation better than success – provided that success is achieved without the use of certain substances, of course.