We boxing fans love to put together fantasy matchups. How about some examples of fights that were definitely scheduled but then cancelled? Or fights that were postponed long enough that the outcome may have been different had the fight taken place when originally scheduled? Feel free to discuss possible outcomes, how history may have been different had the fight happened, or just list some cancelled fights you know about that are fascinating to you. I'll start: Sonny Liston - Oscar Bonavena, late fall 1970. George Foreman - Oscar Bonavena, early-mid 1975. Muhammad Ali - Floyd Patterson, Spring 1967. Gerry Cooney - Earnie Shavers, August 1980. Larry Holmes - Gerrie Coetzee, 1984. Jimmy Ellis - Henry Cooper, 1969. Joe Frazier - Kallie Knoetzee, 1978 or 79 (?) Google News is great for finding cancelled fights. Plug in a boxer's name, follow their career, and you're almost certain to find intriguing matchups that were, if not actually scheduled, discussed.
Old Holmes and Old Foreman was so imminent as to be a done deal. After that one fell through, it didn't seem as though Holmes-Esch would come off until the opening bell.
Two very interesting ones i have read recently: John L Sullivan v Jem Mace - Was about (maybe just before) the time of Sullivan Slade. Jim Corbett v Jack Johnson - 1909.