Patrick Teixeira will have to wait until the new year for a shot at returning to the title stage.

Unexpected health issues caused Magomed Kurbanov to withdraw from his scheduled junior middleweight bout with Brazil’s Teixeira, with RCC Boxing Promotions announcing the cancellation shortly prior to the start of Saturday’s show at KRK “Uralets” in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Both boxers made weight for the bout, which was to serve as the co-feature of a show headlined by WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in a title defense versus Umar Salamov. Sometime after Friday’s weigh-in, Kurbanov (22-0, 13KOs) fell ill and was forced to spend the rest of the day in isolation. An accelerated fever never showed signs of improvement, resulting in the bout being removed from the card.

“Health is more important. He is sitting in the locker room now, suffocated,” German Titov, Kurbanov’s promoter revealed Saturday afternoon local time. “It's a big chance and a big fight for him. He gets it. He got worse in the morning - now 39 degrees (Celsius). With this temperature you can't box.”

The hope is to reschedule the bout for February 2022.

Kurbanov was prepared to risk his WBO number-two ranking in the junior middleweight division. The 26-year-old Russian contender was fortunate to have preserved his unbeaten record following a disputed twelve-round decision win over Liverpool’s Liam Smith this past May in Ekaterinburg.

Teixeira (31-2, 22KOs) has not fought since losing his title to unbeaten Brian Castaño (17-0-1, 12KOs) this past February at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. The loss saw Teixeira snap a five-fight win streak that included his title-winning effort over then-unbeaten Carlos Adames in November 2019. Teixeira was attempting his first title defense.

The rest of the show—including Bivol-Salamov—proceeds as scheduled.

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