Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams will have to look elsewhere for his first fight of the new year.

BoxingScene.com has learned that plans are no longer in place for Williams to meet England’s Felix Cash. The previously agreed-upon WBA middleweight semi-final title eliminator was eyed for March 11 in Liverpool, with both parties even acknowledging the pairing after posting wins on separate shows on consecutive weekends last December.

However, Cash (16-0, 10KOs) will now go the European (EBU) title route. That path leads to reigning titlist Matteo Signani (32-6-3, 12KOs), a 43-year-old from Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy who claimed the title in a seventh-round knockout of Anderson Prescot last November 18 in his hometown to avenge a technical decision defeat last June in Massy, France.

“Time to get busy now,” Cash told International Boxing News YouTube channel. “Get the European title and then that jackass Williams can get it in the summer.”

The enthusiasm isn’t quite shared by Williams and his team.

“Felix Cash chickened out and didn’t want to go straight to the Ammo fight,” Sam Katkovski, Williams’ career-long manager, stated. “Pathetic.”

Williams-Cash seemed inevitable last month.

Williams (13-0, 9KOs) wrapped up a terrific four-win 2022 campaign with an eight-round shutout win over then-undefeated Simon Madsen last December 3 in Glendale, Arizona. The 26-year-old Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born southpaw—now based in Houston, Texas—then claimed a ringside view one week later for Cash’s eventual win over Celso Neves on the Luis Alberto Lopez-Josh Warrington IBF featherweight title fight last December 10 in Leeds, England.

Cash took offense to Williams’ otherwise honest assessment of the Brit’s performance, noting that he wasn’t impressed but expected a better version for their own fight.

“You’ll definitely be in a real fight when you get in the ring with me, because I’ll knock you spark out,” Cash vowed while interrupting Williams’ portion of the DAZN-conducted interview.

The claim was met with a smile.

“If he got cut up and busted up in this fight… y’all know how Ammo punches,” Williams noted of Cash, who had a cut over his left eye and swelling on his right cheek from an otherwise intended stay-busy affair. “I end guys.”

The comment drew a rise out of Cash who once again promised to knock out Williams, before losing his composure and shoving the American during their verbal exchange.

“I’ll knock you spark out,” Cash insisted. “Who the f--- do you think you are?”

Who Williams thought he was at the time, was Cash’s next opponent. A contingency plan is now being sought for the red-hot middleweight, who appears poised to transition from prospect to contender in the new year.

For now, that journey will not include Cash at least as the next step in his promising career.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox