Cancelled Fights over the years

M, I love these kind of threads that really make you think. And I have a few more I think you'll like

October 3rd 1938 in Madison Square Garden - big heavyweight fight between top 10 contenders Bob Pastor and Gunnar Barlund. However, in mid-September Pastor pulls out due to injuring his leg with an axe while chopping wood (that's a unique injury). Lou Nova subs for Pastor on the date.

Prior to their '68 cancellation, Fighting Harada and Jesus Pimental had another scheduled fight.

May 24, 1964 - Jesus Pimental pulls out with a Virus. The bout is rescheduled for Los Angeles on July 6th but on June 29th Pimental pulls out with a stomach issue. Ray Asis is substituted on that date.

Nov. 20, 1970 - Jose Napoles is signed to defend his welterweight title against European champ Johann Orsolics in Vienna. The fight is set but for some reason Orsolics team thought it would be a good idea for a tuneup and again, for some odd reason, they chose Eddie Perkins, who knocked him out in 4 rounds. Napoles' people exercised a 'right to cancel' provision and the fight was scrapped.

Let me preface these next two as saying Ruben Navarro was one of those guys in the right place at the right time.

February 12, 1971 - Ken Buchanan v Mando Ramos (lightweight title) - Ramos pulls out with an injury and in comes Ruben Navarro on 3 days notice.

March 17, 1973 - Rodolfo Gonzalez v Pedro Carrasco (WBC lightweight title) - Carrasco suddenly retires a month before this championship opportunity and Ruben Navarro is substituted once more.

November 13, 1973 John Conteh v Mike Quarry - the reason Conteh pulled out is a bit of a mystery but Chris Finnegan subbed.

 

Jerry Quarry vs. George Chuvalo II
According to boxrec:
"A rematch was signed to take place on the undercard to the Joe Frazier vs. Jimmy Ellis unification match on February 16th in MSG. However, Chuvalo had to pull out on medical advice that his badly damaged eye sustained in this bout required more time to heal."

 

Mike Tyson's 1988 fight against Frank Bruno was canceled multiple times due to a series of issues, including a street fight, a car accident, and a divorce

 

M, here's a bit of a convoluted one for you and 2 fights that never happened. On July 18, 1973 Jerry Quarry was slated to fight Jose Luis Garcia in the Garden in NY but on May 21st Garcia decided on a tuneup against Joe Alexander and was knocked out in the 1st round, incurring a 60 day suspension. With that fight gone and looking to fill the date, Earnie Shavers was supposed to fight George Chuvalo in Cleveland in June and that went belly-up when Chuvalo pulled out with a strained back. So, the Garden matched Quarry and Shavers on the June 18th date. That is until Quarry pulled out with a stomach flu and Jimmy Ellis was subbed. So we got Jimmy Ellis v Earnie Shavers for June 18th, 1973

 

It happened in Vegas instead of Wembley as a result. It’s a different fight imo.

 

Not quite as convoluted but …

Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson was announced for Nov. 8, 1991, in a mega-showdown.

Tyson injured a rib in sparring and Holyfield’s team decided not to wait it out schedule another defense (which turned out to be a correct move given Tyson would subsequently be charged with ****).

Holyfield vs. Francesco Damiani was scheduled for Nov. 23 in Atlanta.

A few days before the fight, Damiani sustained a foot injury in sparring and pulled out.

Out of the bullpen comes Bert Cooper to fill in the spot. And we ended up with a great fight as Cooper knocked Holyfield down (and out on his feet after getting up) and came within a whisker of an upset win for the title(s) before Holyfield stormed back to stop him.

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Evander_Holyfield_vs._Bert_Cooper

 

Another, quite a famous example, which I have almost forgotten came to my mind. The heavyweight title fight between Max Schmeling and James J. Braddock.
According to boxrec:
https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Jim_Braddock_vs._Joe_Louis

+ I remember reading in an old thread that former champion Jack Johnson was supposed to fight Joe Jeanette several times.
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/johnson-signed-to-fight-jeannette-in1912.395077/

 

Would've been interesting to see '91 Holyfield v. '91 Tyson. Tyson would fare way better than his '96/'97 self, he'd probably be as motivated as ever.

 

Not of the 11th just that the fight was supposed to happen that week in September cyberboxingzone has the 6th but its not the source or sources I remember(which had more details than just the date) and I could swear the sources I've previously read had different day. You already had 11th though and the Firpo fight was a replacement that happened on that day. I don't have the source on me its not easy to find but at the same time not hard and I expect one of us will find it soon. But you should at least be able to confirm that general time period from this.

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/dempsey.htm

 

Sept 15, 1911. McFarland vs Wolgast for the LW title

 

Yes, you're right. It was a bit sloppy written. He fought him also as colored heavyweight champion. I actually meant that they should fight when he was world champion.