Kamal Ghorui
American heavyweight boxer Jarrell Miller picked up a narrow win at Madison Square Garden last Saturday, but the fight will be remembered more for an embarrassing moment than the result. During his bout against Kingsley Ibeh, Miller’s wig came loose after he absorbed a series of punches, peeling away at the front in full view of the crowd.Watch:Realising what had happened at the end of a round, the 37-year-old took it in good humour, smiling and tossing the hairpiece into the stands. Despite the distraction, Miller stayed focused and went on to win the fight by split decision.After the bout, Miller explained the unusual situation and blamed an unexpected hair mishap at home. “I get to my mama’s house and she has some shampoo bottles on the table,” he said. “I shampooed, it was like ammonium bleach. I literally lost my hair like two days ago.”With little time to prepare, he said he had no option but to improvise. “So I called my manager (and said), ‘get me one of those manes’, and I slapped that on real quick… I’m a comedian, I make fun of myself.”The fight was part of the undercard to the WBO super-lightweight title clash between Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson, which Stevenson won by unanimous decision.Miller’s career has had its share of controversy. In 2019, he was set to fight Anthony Joshua at the same venue before the bout was cancelled due to a failed drug test. Andy Ruiz Jr replaced him and went on to shock Joshua in one of boxing’s biggest upsets.
