I recently had a couple of ideas for us to speculate on, the first being: What if a boxer who pulled out of, or was ordered by a commission doctor to pull out, of a fight, say, less than 30 days out, lost by forfeit? What if boxing had always been like this? How would history be different? Would careers be cut shot due to injuries? What kind of shenanigans would be eliminated? Here's some examples: Nov '64 - Sonny Liston regains the heavyweight title after Ali forfeits the rematch due to his hernia. Dec '10 - Chisora wins the heavyweight title after Wlad forfeits due to injury. July '83 (I think) - Michael Spinks gets another light-heavy title defense on his record when Mustafa Muhammad forfeits due to not making weight. Mike Tyson would have several forfeit losses on his record due to cancellations. Or would he? If he were threatened with a loss would he have still cancelled some of those fights?
+1. A dumb rule that would penalize a fighter for something he may very well be unable to control. A title should never change hands without a punch being thrown.
