The “loser leaves town” trope dates back to the days of regional wrestling, when promotions stuck to a specific area and the ultimate way to end a long-running feud was to stage a loser leaves town match, a way to artificially inflate the stakes for wrestlers who were going to be going elsewhere for a while anyway, before they packed up and left.
The phrase “losers leave town” is sometimes used in other fields, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they literally leave town. It basically means that when someone loses, they're effectively finished at some level.
In boxing, this is a variation of what has long been called a “crossroads fight.”
And the heavyweight division has had a lot of these crossroads and loser-leaves-town bouts of late, with two bouts taking place on a pay-per-view “five-on-five” card on Saturday.
Deontay Wilder vs. Zhang Zilei could be classified as a crossroads bout, with both fighters fresh off upset losses to Joseph Parker. The same goes for Daniel Dubois vs. Filip Hrgovic, both of whom are young and not exactly coming off losses. The recently announced July 27 bout between Joe Joyce and Dereck Chisora is truly a crossroads bout that sits at the end of the road. And a week later, on August 3, Andy Ruiz faces crossroads bout Jarell “Big Baby” Miller.
All of these can be described as matches in which the loser leaves town, but the town in question is different for each match. After each match, the loser leaves town… somewhere.
Wilder vs. Chang: Loser leaves the championship ring
It's rare that a proper ranking of the top heavyweights is so easy to put together. Oleksandr Usyk is the lone champion. Tyson Fury only lost to Usyk by one point. The rematch is scheduled for December 21st.is the No. 1 contender. Anthony Joshua, who has beaten everyone he's faced except Usyk, is next.
He's in the superstar tier of the division, and judging by recent results, Parker is surely next.
Next up is a cluster that includes all four heavyweights featured on the five-on-five card, Ajit Kabayel and possibly Jared Anderson.
Wilder and Zhang are, at their current calibre, one win, maybe one punch away from making sense as three-superstar opponents. But on Saturday, they're one loss away from being completely out of the picture. It's not “loser leaves town” in the sense that the loser's career is over, but it's just that they'll be big-name opponents if they choose to keep fighting, and nothing more.
Age plays a big role in outlook: Wilder is 38, Zhang is 41.
Wilder started his career 42-0-1 but is 1-3 in his last four fights and may have been worn down by his two losses to Fury. His excuse for his one-sided loss to Parker was that he had boxed only one round in the previous 26 months and was out of form. But that excuse won't work against Chan. If Wilder loses four of his five fights, he's no longer a top 10 contender.
Zhang's loss to Parker seems less like a sign of decline and more like a symptom of his limiting flaws. Zhang came close to a knockout win in the third round, but quickly tired and lost a close decision, just as he had done against Hrgovic two years earlier. In between the two losses came two of his best and biggest wins, two stoppages against Joyce. Zhang is a big guy with a hard left hand, but he has stamina issues, is not very versatile, and seems to have the perfect style to overpower Joyce.
If he beats Wilder, he could sell a fight against Joshua, the winner of Usyk vs Fury II, the loser of Usyk vs Fury II, Parker again, or anyone in the top 10. If he loses to Wilder, Joyce's win will go down in the record books as an anomaly and Zhang will be eliminated from serious title contention.
Dubois vs. Hrgovic: The loser leaves the ambition conversation
Hrgovic is 10 years younger than Zhang. Dubois is 12 years younger than Wilder. So while the two fight on the same card in Riyadh on Saturday, they find themselves at a different kind of crossroads, one in which a loss would be a much less decisive outcome. Three years from now, Usyk, Fury, Joshua, Wilder and Zhang will all be retired, and both winners and losers could be retired as well. and A loss to Dubois Hrgovic would cement him in the top five of the division.
But for now, the winner will sit just outside of that inner ring and the loser will fall hard, especially if that loser turns out to be Dubois, who is considered a slight underdog in this fight.
Seen at the time as the division's next big star, Dubois suffered a shocking loss to Joyce in 2020. He bounced back with four knockout wins over mid-level opponents, including a near-disastrous defeat to Kevin Lerena, before getting stopped by Usyk in a fight he thought he'd knocked out with a body shot, and then recording the best win of his career over an overfed Miller.
The promising Londoner has suffered two knockout losses in the past four years. A third loss, even if not a knockout, would silence any talk of his future. Another “loss” would mark the turning point from challenger to veteran.
With a 17-0 record, Hrgovic could easily accept one loss, but a loss, especially to Dubois, who was talented but underpowered against a world-class heavyweight, would be a bad sign about the Croatian's limitations.
Hrgovic's scouting report calls him solid but sturdy, and if he can't beat Dubois, “solid” is in danger of becoming a noun rather than an adjective that critics use.
Lewis v. Miller: Loser Leaves Last Chance Bar
I was tempted to write, “Losers wear shirts.” Glad I resisted that temptation, huh?
But in all seriousness, for very different reasons, these two mid-30s salad-hating stalwarts are each facing their final straw.
The main problem for the 34-year-old Lewis is being inactive and out of the public eye. He'll have been off for nearly two years by the time he steps into the ring on Aug. 3 for just his third fight since the pandemic began. He's essentially backed out of fighting.
If he still has what it takes to beat Miller, and the odds are 3-to-1 in favor, he'll be in for one last fight, but if he can't beat Big Baby, Lewis will cement his status as the Buster Douglas or Leon Spinks of his generation — a one-hit wonder who can't produce a follow-up blockbuster.
Miller, 35, has more serious problems with image and opportunities. In 2019, he failed his first drug test for multiple substances, paving the way for Ruiz to shock the world by replacing him as Joshua's opponent. In his planned return fight, Miller again failed a pre-fight drug test. Incidentally, Big Baby also tested positive for drugs in a kickboxing bout in 2014.
Miller's reputation was already at rock bottom, his unbeaten streak ended by his December bout with Dubois (weighing 333 pounds) and should have completely wiped him out of any relevance on the world stage, but he's a household name and a big name who rarely has the moral high ground in boxing, so the Lewis fight gave him a chance to step back into the spotlight. If he missed his shot, Big Baby would never set foot in the bar at Last Chance Spitfire again.
Joyce vs Chisora: The loser will retire from the sport, hopefully
I use the word “hopefully” not out of some cold-hearted desire to eliminate any of these bigwigs out of contempt, but because I care about them as people.
Chisora is 40 years old and has 13 losses. To be fair, all 13 losses were against strong opponents, but there comes a point where the punishment becomes irreversible. I haven't had Chisora undergo a medical exam, so take this as speculation from a writer who knows nothing of the facts or evidence, but my gut feeling is that the risks are starting to outweigh the rewards.
Joyce should not do Joyce isn't going to run out of steam after just 18 pro fights, but people age at different rates. He looked weak against Chang the second time around, and wasn't in great form when he beat Kash Ali in March. Was Chang a weakness for Joyce? Or has Joyce's once rock-solid chin weakened? A loss to the 2024 version of Chisora would provide the answer.
And we wish him the best of luck as he travels to the next town and hopefully a new, less dangerous career.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with over 25 years of experience covering boxing for outlets including Boxing Scene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat and The Ring (where he served as editor in chief for seven years). He is also the co-host of the HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney and Ring Theory. Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Ruskin and MulvaneyHe has received three Best Writing Awards from the BWAA for his writing for The Ring, Grantland and HBO. Outside of boxing, Casino Report 2014 Money maker effectContact details: X or LinkedInor email us at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
