In a fall boxing season beset by postponements and cancellations, yet another fight was knocked out Friday because of a back injury to heavyweight titlist Oleg Maskaev.

Maskaev hurt himself while running Thursday at his training camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains and Friday his Oct. 6 mandatory defense against Samuel Peter at New York's Madison Square Garden was called off, Maskaev promoter Dennis Rappaport told ESPN.com.

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Samuel Peter will have to wait for his shot at Oleg Maskaev after the champion injured his back during training.

"To fight Oct. 6, in two weeks, that is not going to happen. It's impossible," Rappaport said. "We've notified [show promoter] Don King, Madison Square Garden and the New York State Athletic Commission. The WBC will be notified in writing."

King, who won the right to promote the fight in a purse bid of $3.107 million, Peter promoter Dino Duva, and Showtime, which was scheduled to air the fight, were weighing their options Friday afternoon. No decision had been made about whether the show would be canceled, King spokesman Alan Hopper told ESPN.com.

Duva and Ivaylo Gotzev, Peter's manager, want Peter to fight a replacement opponent for the WBC interim title, but it remains to be seen if one acceptable to the WBC and Showtime can be found on two weeks' notice.

"I'm really shocked and disappointed," Duva said. "I intend on independently verify the injury and the extent of it. In the meantime, I want to urge the WBC to allow Samuel to fight for the interim championship. I don't think it would be fair for Samuel to wait any longer for his championship fight. He has waited too long as it is."

Rappaport said Maskaev (34-5, 26 KOs) suffered an initial back injury about 2½ weeks ago, but "he was very committed to the fight. He tried to work out and then rest for a couple of days. Then he would spar and run and it was a problem again. He also had a contusion on his right ankle. He was trying to work through everything, but [Thursday], he did his road work and was in acute pain."

Rappaport said Maskaev had multiple MRIs and they showed that he has a herniated disc and a bulging disc.

"The doctor was amazed that Oleg could withstand the pain he had been in with the injury," Rappaport said, adding that the doctor said Maskaev would have to rest for at least four to six weeks before he could resume training.

"I wish Oleg was more communicative to us about the kind of pain he is in," Rappaport said. "He keeps things to himself, but it's important that we know. This is debilitating. There was nothing he could do. This is the first time in his whole career he has postponed a fight. He's devastated."

Rappaport said he understood that Duva and King would want to have the MRI looked at by their own doctor.

"They have every right to check the MRI if they have any questions," he said. "Anyone who sees this MRI, it will speak for itself. The only question is, how did he train as long as he did?"

Making the Peter-Maskaev fight in the first place was extremely difficult, even after Peter dominated James Toney in January to win a second consecutive elimination bout against him to earn the mandatory shot.

Rappaport delayed making the fight with Peter (28-1, 22 KOs) for as long as he could. He attempted to match Maskaev with former titlist Vitali Klitschko before being forced to match Maskaev with Peter. When the fight with Peter was finally mandated by the WBC --- after a protracted battle and legal threats -- Rappaport complied but sued the organization because he was unhappy with Maskaev's share of the purse split.

Because Peter had won multiple eliminators and had ultimately agreed to step aside so Maskaev could fight Klitschko (until that deal fell apart), the WBC ordered that Maskaev receive 55 percent of the winning purse bid to Peter's 45 percent; the typical split is 70-30 in favor of the champion.

Now, the fight has suffered another setback.

"The brutal thing is that Dennis Rappaport has caused delays from Day 1," said Gotzev, who had not yet broken the news to Peter that the fight was off. "We have had nothing but grief trying to negotiate with him. There should be an interim title fight. Samuel is overdue for his title shot. Everybody is upset."

This is just the latest fight to be hit by the injury bug this fall and fourth that Showtime was involved with. Fernando Vargas came down with anemia, forcing the postponement of his Sept. 8 Showtime PPV fight against Ricardo Mayorga to Nov. 23. Showtime also lost Klitschko's fight with Jameel McCline, scheduled for Saturday night, when Klitschko suffered his own back injury two weeks ago. Earlier this week, light heavyweight Adrian Diaconu injured his hand and withdrew from a Sept. 29 fight against titlist Chad Dawson, and was replaced by Epifanio Mendoza.

In addition, the Sept. 15 HBO PPV card headlined by Juan Manuel Marquez's junior lightweight defense against Rocky Juarez was canceled because Marquez suffered a hand injury. It was later rescheduled for Nov. 3 on Showtime.

Also, heavyweight titlist Ruslan Chagaev withdrew from an Oct. 13 unification match with Sultan Ibragimov because of illness and was replaced by Evander Holyfield.

Maskaev won the title via 12th-round knockout of Hasim Rahman on Aug. 12, 2006. He made one defense, easily outpointing Peter Okhello on Dec. 10 in Moscow, before the WBC eventually ordered him to face Peter.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.