 One of the advertised participants in the boxing match is James Field, who was hanged two weeks before the prints were issued and features again in the final image of the series; the other participant is George "the Barber" Taylor, who had been champion of England but was defeated by Broughton and retired in 1750.On Taylor's death in 1757, Hogarth produced a number of sketches of him wrestling Death, probably for his tomb.According to Werner Busch, the composition alludes to Rembrandt's painting, "Balaam's Ass" (1626).