When was the first time a champion got stripped for refusing to fight someone?

France tried to strip Jack Johnson for not fighting McVey/Langford (i think it was) and technically billed this fight for their version of the title.

 

Johnny wilson is the first I know about...

 

Yeah they did... I know moore lost all his belts eventually also

 

it was actually the langford-jeannette fight in 1910. that's the footage that was found recently. langford won the french world title but he was soon stripped as well. i know the national sporting club in london also named langford champ with his win over hague.

 

I was going to go with SRR for failing to make a rubber match with Basilio (and fighting Pender instead), but it seems others here have found earlier ones.

 

my2sense, I don't believe that was the reason he was stripped of the title, though. I believe it was due to inactivity. Between the 2nd Basilio fight and the 1st Paul Pender fight, 2 years had almost elapsed.

 

1913 not 1910

 

I think that was just something that come off the top of my head concerning the WBC and the WBA

 

I wonder how the ranking systems became so skewed across the organisations

 

Dundee got stripped in 1929 for refusing to face Thompson or Fields (even though he did face fields later that year) is that the earliest so far?

 

Looks like its either Johnson in 1913 (which wasnt very widely accepted) or Johnny Wilson in 1921/1922 (which was fairly widely accepted but ultimately futile as he was reinstated in 1923).

 

thanks!

 

cheers!

it's interesting how wilson was reinstated yet dundee never got his belts back in 29.

 

Johnson was actualy stripped by a major sanctioning body for failing to fight Sam Langford.

Going back further, the National Police Gazette stripped Sullivan of their version of the title.

 

good man!