The highly anticipated middleweight showdown between champion Kelly Pavlik and top-rated contender Paul Williams, originally scheduled for Oct. 3, may be in jeopardy due to a staph infection to one of Pavlik's hands.

A scheduled press conference in New York city to announce the HBO-televised bout that was to take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. was canceled by Pavlik on Monday afternoon, Williams' promoter Dan Goossen told RingTV.com.

“We just learned of Pavlik's decision to cancel the press conference for this fight and it's forced us to re-evaluate everything,” Goossen said. “It's disturbing news because we haven't gotten to first base yet (with the promotion of the bout) and now this happens. I'm going to have to meet with Williams and his team to discuss what we do next.”

Goossen wouldn't say if the infection to the middle knuckle of Pavlik's left hand, which reportedly first occurred months ago and nixed a scheduled June title bout against Sergio Mora, will result in the cancellation of the Williams bout but he said that a postponement has not been agreed upon.

Top Rank, Pavlik's promoter, sent out a press release on Monday stating that the bout has been postponed and that: “Multiple dates are being discussed.”

ESPN.com and Yahoo! Sports reported that November 21 and December 5 are the dates that are under consideration.

“I'd like to know who (Pavlik's) fighting on that date if that's true,” Goossen said.

HBO Sports, which was integral in making Pavlik-Williams, does not have an open date until November 21. The cable network will air the Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson rematch on the 7th and the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto showdown will run on it's pay-per-view arm on the 14th.

HBO could conceivably schedule Pavlik-Williams on November 21 as a live broadcast that runs after the Pacquiao-Cotto rebroadcast, however it would go up against Showtime's broadcast of the Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward title bout, which is part of the rival network's much-anticipated super middleweight tournament.

Goossen promotes Ward and could be heavily involved with the Kessler-Ward promotion, which could land at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, Calif.

HBO will broadcast the Lucien Bute-Librado Andrade rematch from Montreal on November 28. It's possible that the network could stage a dual site double header by adding Pavlik-Williams to that date, but it's not feasible.

There's also an open HBO date on December 5, but Goossen is not sure if he wants Williams to wait that long to fight Pavlik.