Entire Rashad Evans-Rampage Jackson Boxing Card Officially Canceled

As it turns out, Rashad Evans’ instincts were correct.

A few days after Evans said his boxing match against Quinton Jackson was no longer happening due to unfulfilled contractual obligations, the entire card, which was scheduled for this Saturday at the Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was canceled. The cancellation was announced on the University of New Mexico Athletics website where tickets would have been sold.

“The Signature Punch Promotions card set for April 12, has been canceled,” read a statement on GoLobos.com. “All tickets will be refunded to the card used to make the purchase within 72-96 hours. This will happen automatically, no need to call the box office.”

The New Mexico State Athletic Commission in February approved the card, which was co-promoted Albuquerque’s Tapia Promotions and Florida’s Signature Punch Promotions. In addition to Evans vs. Jackson, the event was also expected to feature a boxing match between UFC veterans Diego Sanchez and John Makdessi. Boxers such as Fernando Vargas Jr., Shane Mosley Jr. and a number of local boxers from New Mexico were also scheduled to fight on the card, which was entitled ICS Mania Boxing.

In a statement on its Instagram account, ICS Boxing called it a postponement.

“We regret to inform our fans and supporters that ICS MANIA 1 will be postponed to a later date,” the statement read. “We are currently working closely with the New Mexico Commission to finalize the new schedule and will provide an update as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, Tapia Promotions announced in a release on Monday that it was withdrawing from the event “due to ethical and financial concerns.”

“Tapia Promotions has withdrawn from the ICS Mania event scheduled for April 12 after discovering significant financial instability and ethical concerns regarding event funding,” stated the release. “Investigations reveal that ICS, under the leadership of president Gary Lewis, planned to host the event without securing proper funds to ensure fighter compensation — a pattern observed in previous events.”

For some MMA fans, the intrigue behind the event was a renewal of the rivarly between Evans and Jackson, which began on “The Ultimate Fighter 10” before Evans defeated “Rampage” at UFC 114.

While it likely won’t occur under the same promotional banner, Evans expressed optimism that the fight with Jackson could occur sometime in the near future.

“I’m going to regroup but I definitely do have a desire to do the boxing match with Rampage,” Evans told MMAFighting.com. “It was a lot of fun devoting myself and really just getting back into the fighting mindset. Since I stepped away from fighting, I’ve been busy doing other things, developing myself outside of the fight game, which is all very important. But at the same time, there’s a certain itch that still needs to be scratched, and I still got it. I still have that feeling inside of me. Before I totally relent to being an elder statesman, I at least want to feel it one more time or at least a couple times.

“If the opportunity does present itself, and we do find ourselves another promotion that can make it happen, then I’m all for it. It’s just about making sure that both of us are taken care of and it’s something that makes sense to both of us as well … . We know that there’s a lot of promotions that really fit into this space and really fit into what we do. It’s really a good thing that influencer market has opened up the way that it has and it’s really received by the fans and it’s something that’s fun.”