Boxing is the theater of the unexpected – outside the ring as well as inside it. Fights are constantly falling through for one reason or another.
Most recently, Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis was canceled due to Davis facing legal trouble when a former partner accused him of domestic abuse, and Erislandy Lara vs. Janibek Alimkhanuly was called off due to Alimkhanuly’s failed drug test.
BoxingScene’s Ryan Songalia has already explored five that didn’t happen due to failed drug tests. But a fighter testing positive for a banned substance is just one of many reasons a fight might not come to fruition. Here are eight fights that failed to happen due to factors besides an adverse finding on a drug test:
Yuriorkis Gamboa-Brandon Rios
Set for April 14, 2012
It might be hard to believe for modern fight fans, but 14 or so years ago, Gamboa moving up two weight classes to face Rios was hugely anticipated. A press conference was held… and Gamboa didn’t show up. Despite the bout looking like it would happen, it didn’t, with Gamboa withdrawing due to disputes with his network and promoter.
Rios would instead face Richar Abril in an ugly fight, winning a split decision. Gamboa, meanwhile, won a couple unanimous decisions before taking on an up-and-comer named Terence Crawford in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2014. That ninth-round TKO saw one of the best careers of the generation begin in earnest.
Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence Jnr
Set for August 21, 2021
Pacquiao had beaten Keith Thurman in 2019, reaffirming his status near the top of the welterweight division even at 40 years old. Spence was laying waste to 147lbs titleholders, aside from Crawford. With the world slowly moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, it was an ideal time for a marquee fight. The bout would either mark a passing of the torch from Pacquiao to Spence (which most expected to happen in fairly brutal fashion) or Pacquiao one-upping his age-defying win over Thurman, and bolstering an already spectacular legacy.
Spence had a torn retina in his left eye that was discovered in a pre-fight eye exam, making him ineligible for the bout, and Yordenis Ugas, who was scheduled to fight on the undercard, replaced Spence. Ugas would win a unanimous decision over Pacquiao in which age finally caught up to “Pacman,” convincing him to retire until he returned to fight WBC titleholder Mario Barrios to a draw this past July.
Spence has also fought just twice since this fight fell through, despite being more than a decade younger than Pacquiao. In 2022, Spence gradually broke Ugas down en route to an impressive 10th-round stoppage, which helped build the anticipation for an undisputed match with Crawford to a manic pitch. When it came time, though, Crawford inflicted a violent, sustained beating on Spence over nine rounds. “The Truth” has been linked to possible fights but has not fought again.
Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko II
Set for April 8, 2016, and October 29, 2016
Fury shocked the world by ending the decade-long title run of Klitschko in 2015. The rematch figured to be even more monumental. Could Fury do it again? Could the aging lion Klitschko conquer the opponent whose feints froze him the first time around?
We never found out. Fury had tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone in 2015; the day UK Anti-Doping charged him for the offense in 2016, Fury pulled out of the Klitschko rematch, saying he’d hurt his ankle.
Fury retired. He disappeared. He had mental health struggles. He gained a lot of weight. The Klitschko rematch seemed possible for the fall of 2016 and never happened.
Fury would make a comeback in 2018, in which he produced his enduring career highlight: climbing off the deck from Deontay Wilder’s lethal 1-2, which seemingly left him unconscious for a few seconds, to make the final bell. (The fight was scored a draw; most thought Fury won.)
Denied a Fury rematch, Klitschko ended up passing the torch again: he fought valiantly in an 11th-round TKO loss to Anthony Joshua, then retired. Fight fans have long craved a bout between Klitschko’s two modern conquerors; Joshua and Fury may indeed meet in 2026. Given their failure to make the fight happen so far in their careers, don’t count out that matchup’s inclusion on a future sequel of this list.
Eimantas Stanionis-Vergil Ortiz
Set for three dates in 2023
On paper, it was one of the best welterweight fights that could be made. The bout pitted an exciting up-and-coming pressure fighter, Ortiz, against a battle-hardened pressure fighter in Stanionis. Yet it was plagued by postponements. Stanionis had to have an emergency surgery, causing the first delay, and then Ortiz had to withdraw for health reasons.
Ortiz would return the following year at junior middleweight. He has since had the best run of his career, defeating Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov in attritional distance fights, and blowing out Erickson Lubin in two rounds. For Stanionis, the opposite: he suffered two years of inactivity, then fought Jaron “Boots” Ennis in his second bout back and lost by merciful corner stoppage after six one-sided rounds.
Tim Tszyu-Keith Thurman
Set for March 31, 2024
At the time, Tim Tszyu was one of the biggest rising stars in the sport. He was active, beating B-level 154-pounders in increasingly impressive style, and fought to entertain the fans. Keith Thurman, since defeating Danny Garcia, had been very inactive. The fight seemed like a crossroads bout between an emerging champion and an aging warrior. In the end, everybody lost when Thurman suffered an injury in training camp.
Tszyu accepted Sebastian Fundora as a short-notice replacement opponent, split open his forehead on one of Fundora’s sharp elbows, and suffered a split decision loss (heavily impacted by blood constantly flowing into Tszyu’s eyes) that derailed his momentum and career. He’s since taken a shattering loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev and got stopped by Fundora in a rematch. Thurman knocked out Brock Jarvis in March and attempted to fight Fundora last month, only for another injury, this time to Fundora, to delay the bout.
Keyshawn Davis-Edwin De Los Santos
Set for June 7, 2025
Davis was making his first world title defense at home in Virginia against the powerful De Los Santos, who was looking to restore his reputation following a limp performance against an action-averse Shakur Stevenson in his previous fight. Davis had passed all the prior tests and, in just 13 bouts, became a beltholder in the lightweight division. Having shown no previous symptoms of self-sabotage outside a positive marijuana test, Davis shockingly blew weight by four pounds and lost his title on the scale.
It was the rare fight on this list in which both fighters made it all the way to the weigh-in, but even in a high-profile television matchup with big money on the line, the sides couldn’t find a solution. Neither fighter has fought since his failed summit.
Abner Mares-Gervonta Davis
Set for February 9, 2019
This bout was perceived as a true test for the upstart Davis, whose biggest career victory was over titleholder Jose Pedraza. Davis had just beaten Liam Walsh and Jesus Cuellar, but Mares, a naturally smaller fighter moving up from featherweight to face Davis at junior lightweight, was much more accomplished than either of them. Alas, fight fans would have to wait to see Davis tested, as Mares suffered an eye injury in training camp.
Davis would face Hugo Ruiz in Mares’ place and knock him out in one round. Davis fought three times in 2019 altogether, with his final bout coming against a faded Gamboa. Mares only boxed one more time after his 2018 loss to Leo Santa Cruz, fighting to a majority draw against Miguel Flores.
Gennadiy Golovkin-Dmitry Pirog
Set for August 12, 2012
Golovkin was the unbeaten middleweight monster who was moving from Europe to the U.S. to become a star, and Pirog had just knocked out Daniel Jacobs to become a titleholder. The fight was set as an HBO Boxing bout that most hardcore fight fans had circled, like Sergio Martinez-Paul Williams, but Pirog suffered a back injury that eventually retired him.
Golovkin went on to become one of the defining fighters of the 2010s, and an all-time great middleweight. But he proved unable to secure a marquee fight in his prime, which he remained in the thick of in 2012. Many still wonder how he would have fared against Pirog, who had beaten Jacobs more impressively than Golovkin – or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2019. Like with the rest of these bouts, we’ll be left to wonder forever.
