Boxing's bout of call-offs
| By BBC Sport's Ronald McIntosh |
 Khan must now wait to see when his fight with Kotelnik will go ahead |
With Amir Khan's maiden world title bid now postponed, we are once again reminded of the delicate, fragile nature of this most brutal of sports, inhabited by the bravest and toughest of men.
A toothache has halted Khan's shot at the title, as WBA light-welterweight champion Andreas Kotelnik is suffering from a dental infection that prevents him from sparring.
And so Kotelnik, Khan, Frank Warren, the media and thousands of fans must all wait while the dentists and doctors make their final diagnosis so a new date can be set.
Cancellations, postponements, and withdrawals are nothing new for those who make their living in and around the boxing ring. But coming hot on the heels of two cancelled world heavyweight title fights, seldom can there have been so many high-profile knockouts in such a short space of time without a single punch being thrown.
The month of May ended with the rematch between Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolai Valuev finally appearing to be on.
However, with both fighters weighed in and everything seemingly in place, the doctors of the Finnish Boxing Federation declared Chagaev unfit to fight.
While withdrawals are an occupational hazard that could befall any boxer, Chagaev has proved to be particularly unlucky in this regard.
However, he has been the principal beneficiary of David Haye's debilitating back injury, as Wladimir Klitschko decided he couldn't, or wouldn't, wait to see whether the Hayemaker would be ready to fight on 10 July.
Instead, Klitschko v Chagaev will take place on the bill originally booked for the Bermondsey bash merchant. Chagaev's luck may well be changing.
Haye, meanwhile, can only sit on the sidelines and concur with the estimate that back injuries cost the British economy millions of pounds in lost productivity annually. A payday reputed to be in the region of £2m has simply vanished.
While the recent past is notable for the high concentration of prominent cancellations, boxing history is full of pullouts and postponements at every level of the sport. Sometimes, both men can be in the arena, and still no fight takes place!
As Haye prepared to make his heavyweight debut against Tomasz Bonin at the revamped Wembley Arena in April 2007, those of us at ringside received word that all was not well backstage in another of the bouts on the bill.
Peter Oboh, the British light-heavyweight champion, was scheduled to defend his title against the ultra-popular Tony Oakey from Portsmouth.
Oboh, who insisted that God was his trainer, was dubbed "the most-avoided man in British boxing". His relentless, awkward, bruising style guaranteed a gruelling night's work for whoever faced him.
As a result, this nightmarish boxing bride was jilted several times - the bout with Oakey was to have been his first for three years.
 Tony Oakey (centre) apologises to fans after Peter Oboh's withdrawal |
On this occasion, though, it was Oboh who got cold feet. After arriving in the building with his gumshield and gym bag, Oboh declared he wouldn't fight.
Promoter Frank Maloney and then secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, Simon Block, pleaded with Oboh to box. He flatly refused and offered no explanation as to why. He never fought again.
Even the most famous bout in history couldn't escape the perils of postponement. Don King's promotional extravaganza "The Rumble in the Jungle" was almost off before it was ever on.
Scheduled for 25 September, 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, the fight had to be delayed for four weeks after Foreman suffered an injury during training.
Some unfortunate sparring partner, taking his daily dose of sledgehammer blows from the champ, raised an elbow in a defensive manoeuvre. Foreman's right eyebrow sliced open. All of a sudden, the $10m showstopper, designed to attract tourism to Zaire, was in jeopardy.
The assembled media left on the next available flight. The fighters, meanwhile, remained in Zaire. Whether this was at their own request remains unclear, though there was a strong suspicion among the hosts that if they left, they would never return.
The bout eventually took place one month later than originally planned on 30 October 1974 and the astounding result is a lynchpin of the Muhammad Ali legend.
Given the nature of the profession of pugilism, and the number of variables that can go wrong, it's often a wonder that fights make it to the ring at all.
 | The sound of the opening bell makes it all worthwhile BBC Sport's Ronald McIntosh |
Broken hands (Tyson v Mathis, 1995), busted ribs (Tyson v Holyfield I, 1991), and being too heavy for the designated weight-class (Castillo v Corrales III, 2006) have all been reasons for postponements.
When one considers the dangers inherent in each contest - every fight could be the boxer's last - then for my money, it is only right and proper that every possible precaution is taken when it comes to the health and safety of the fighters.
Occasionally, everyone involved has to endure the frustration of a fight falling through.
But when it all comes together, and two readied boxers make that walk from the locker-room to the ring, it creates a sense of anticipation and excitement that I feel is unrivalled in all of sports.
It overrides the inconvenience of a late cancellation. The sound of the opening bell makes it all worthwhile.
