For those lucky enough to be blessed with a full head of hair, the mishap that Jarrell Miller encountered on Saturday night caused significant amusement. Miller self-consciously joked afterwards that it was nothing major – he’d simply washed his hair in bleach by mistake (and by golly, we’ve all been there). But as those who have endured male pattern balding will tell you, it’s a tricky process to navigate. Worse for Miller is this: Unless he somehow manages to win a world belt at heavyweight, he will forever be known as the boxer whose hairpiece was punched off his head.
His legacy isn’t assisted either by the volumes of PEDs he consumed that led him to being banned after his 2019 shot at Anthony Joshua was cancelled. Miller certainly has some work to do to restore both his reputation and the appearance of his head. And I would humbly suggest that work should begin with a razor blade.
Miller can take comfort knowing that some of the best fighters in history enjoyed stellar performances after losing their hair. After all, this is boxing, where scary-looking brutes prosper and the moral of the story is simple: Own the problem and shave it off.
Marvin Hagler
There are so few photographs of Hagler with hair it’s easy to imagine him arriving from the belly of his mother without a single hair on his head. Certainly, by the time he was rising through the middleweight ranks Hagler’s pristine dome only added to his fearsome style. Throw in the goatee, those velvet shorts, and the knee-high socks, and Hagler somehow made that savagery look elegant.
Tyson Fury
When Fury turned professional in 2008 he had thick black hair and movie-star looks. And if you’re into the tall, dark, and handsome type, Fury undeniably looked better back then. But within a few years, his thatch was thinning and he made a bold (and wise) decision: He got the clippers out and shaved off what remained. What followed was a significant uplift in form that saw him go on to rule the world at heavyweight. Coincidence? Absolutely not.
Kelly Pavlik
There’s a reason why thugs shave all their hair off: It makes them look hard. And Pavlik, as he was moving up the middleweight ranks, suddenly looked like a mean dude when he made the decision to dispense with his floundering locks. A hellacious hitter who, for a while, looked unstoppable as he flattened all-comers.
James Toney
Toney was both one of the snazziest boxers of the modern era and one of the most terrifying. He had the cold stare and demeanour of someone you wouldn’t want to upset and that only increased when he removed the hair from his head during his impressive rebirth at cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Jack Johnson
Not only the first black heavyweight champion but also the first truly bald one – Bob Fitzsimmons doesn’t really count because he persevered with what he had left – Johnson was a trailblazer and trendsetter. Rightly regarded as one of the best boxers of them all, Johnson was also a snappy dresser, a Casanova, and a man who never once tried to hide who he was.
Bernard Hopkins
Hopkins’ transition to bald was a gradual and public process which, given he fought until his fifties, should be no surprise. As Hopkins’ career was seemingly winding down, and his hairline was retreating, he opted for close shaves as he fought with mixed results against fighters like Jermain Taylor, Antonio Tarver, Joe Calzaghe and Chad Dawson. However, by the time he was beating Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov, to become the oldest titlist in history, he was both hair-free and carefree.
Floyd Mayweather Jnr
There is an element of truth to the idea that one needs an appropriately shaped head to wear being bald well. Some might say that Tyson Fury, for example, has a head better suited to hair. But Mayweather’s head – and you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen it up close – was made to shine. Though he’s had some sort of restoration up there in recent years, Mayweather was a bald badass while earning ludicrous money for the final six years of his career.
George Foreman
You know that feeling when you bump into someone who you haven’t seen for years and you’re struck by how much older they look? Well, the whole world experienced that feeling in 1987 when Foreman returned after a 10-year layoff. Only problem was, Foreman didn’t only look older, he looked ancient. However, by the time he flattened Michael Moorer in 1994 to regain the heavyweight title, 45-year-old Foreman – merrily bald and not caring a jot about the excess baggage around his waist – became the poster boy for every middle-aged man in the land.
Evander Holyfield
Holyfield wrestled with his ever-decreasing barnet for a number of years. Which must have been difficult. You dedicate your life to becoming the world heavyweight champion and then, once achieved, your hair decides against sticking around for the party. When he lost the title to Michael Moorer in 1994, Holyfield’s tufts were so unbecoming he resembled a beaten-up teddy bear. Out came the razor and a new Holyfield was born; one who bludgeoned Mike Tyson into defeat and beat the bejabbers out of Moorer in a rematch.
Earnie Shavers
Muhammad Ali labelled Shavers ‘The Acorn’ on account of his head. He would also call Shavers one of the hardest punchers he fought, a view shared by practically everyone who encountered Shavers’ cannonball fists. Now, I’m no scientist, but it’s certainly fair to assume that Shavers wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if he’d been bogged down by some pesky hair.
