Keir Starmer thought he was holding on to his belt - but then fan favourite Andy Burnham arrived
The PM has stayed on his feet, but Burnham could land the knock-out blow.
Sir Keir Starmer has taken quite a few punches over the course of this week.
Scores of his MPs started calling for him to resign over the weekend after last week's brutal Holyrood, Senedd and English local election results.
He went into Cabinet on Tuesday with some thinking he would throw in the towel.
But he came out fighting.
The Prime Minister said a leadership challenge “has not been triggered” and “the country expects us to get on with governing”.
The resignations continued: government aides and even some junior ministers said the PM would go.
He was bloodied but he went on.
Finally came along a proper contender which the crowd had been waiting for: Wes Streeting.
After the PM embarrassed him with a short meeting on Wednesday, reports suggested the Health Secretary would resign on Thursday.
It was hotly anticipated, but ended up a damp squib.
The day was meant to be his, but instead the limelight was on others.
As people woke up, their attention was on Angela Rayner as she was cleared in her HMRC case.
The morning dragged on as Mr Streeting's allies insisted he had the 81 names required to take the PM to a leadership contest, and suggested there would be cabinet resignations, but it never materialised.
He eventually announced he was quitting in the early afternoon, but did not trigger a leadership contest.
It was clear the PM would battle on.
With Mr Streeting on the floor and beaten (for now), Sir Keir might have thought he was holding onto the belt.
But he was given no rest.
Exiled fan favourite Andy Burnham - never champion but with two previous attempts at the title - had found a route back to the Commons with former minister Josh Simons standing down.
Mr Burnham is a completely different opponent for the PM.
If he makes it into the Commons, Mr Burnham will easily have enough backers to trigger a leadership contest.
And if it goes to Labour members, the Greater Manchester Mayor will likely win.
The only silver lining for Sir Keir is that Mr Burnham may not even win the by-election - despite Makerfield being historically one of the safest Labour seats in the country.
Reform UK was only 5,000 votes behind Labour in Makerfield at the general election.
Nigel Farage's party has only grown more popular since.
Reform won 24 of the 25 seats in the local council last month, with Labour winning none.
But it has hard to measure Mr Burnham's personal vote.
If does not stand, it will be a definite Labour loss.
If he does stand, they have a chance of winning.
Some Labour MPs feel like this is the same situation nation-wide.
Like a battle-hardened fighter, Sir Keir has been admirable this week for his ability to stay on his feet.
But in Mr Burnham, he faces a challenger with a grudge to bear whose time may finally have come.
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