Are boxer’s new hairstyles an omen of defeat?

By Scoop Malinowski

One of the wisest men I never met in my lifetime was the artist LeRoy Neiman. He shared countless wisdoms and observations about human nature during our two-decade friendship.

One observation he said still stands out because of it’s peculiarity but bizarre, illogical accuracy.

Before the Felix Trinidad vs Ricardo Mayorga fight at Madison Square Garden, Neiman remarked how when boxer’s suddenly chance their hairstyles, they lose the fight.

Sure enough, Mayorga changed his hair to a yellow blonde dye job and subsequently lost by knockout to Tito.

This astounding prediction provoked me to think about other examples where a boxer suddenly changed his hair style and lost. And other examples popped into mind. Joe Frazier shaved his head bald for the George Foreman rematch in 1976 and was knocked out.  Lennox Lewis decided to grow dreadlocks before the Oliver McCall first fight and lost by knockout.

Now Oleksandr Usyk has changed his look with a new hair style appearance of what can only be called a reverse ponytail which hangs forward not backward.

So according to the so far accurate theory of Neiman, can it be concluded that Usyk is about to lose by knockout in the World Heavyweight title rematch vs Anthony Joshua? We shall see…