Tony Bellew believes the harshest punishment in the sport should be handed down to one current heavyweight.
The former cruiserweight world champion hung up the gloves back in 2018 – his last outings being a defence of his belt before beating David Haye twice at heayvweight and losing in his final contest to Oleksandr Usyk.
A fan-favourite, it’s no wonder Bellew has made the move into punditry, and he looks to be known as a no-nonsense analyst.
In a recent interview with Ade Oladipo when discussing potential opponents for Anthony Joshua later this year, Bellew said that Jarrell Miller – who has said he would welcome the match-up – should never box again.
“I don’t think it should happen. I don’t think he [Miller] should be allowed in a boxing ring ever again. People will say why? Because this guy had more steroids in him than The Hulk.”
Miller wasn’t the first fighter to fail a doping test and he certainly isn’t the last – in fact both Dillian Whyte and Robert Helenius recently returned positive tests before fights with ‘AJ’ – but the nature and profile of how and when it happened have him held up as an example more often than others.
The Brooklyn native was all set to welcome Joshua to America in July of 2019 before he failed an initial test for a metabolic performance enhancer. Subsequent findings would she he also had EPO (erythropoietin) and HGH (human growth hormone) in his system.
Pulled from that fight and banned by the WBA, he attempted to mount a comeback one year on against Jerry Forrest but failed again and was banned for two years by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
‘Big Baby’, now 35-years-old, has racked up three wins since then, the two most recent being knockouts over Derek Cardenas and Lucas Browne.
He has found himself ranked number six with the WBA, but recently had a fight order with ‘Regular Champion’ Mahmoud Charr cancelled.