Originally Posted by
Loki
They've had a history of near misses. They shared several covers in Astonishing Tales when it was split between Dr. Doom and Ka-Zar, but only with Panther vs. Doom in one tale, and Ka-Zar in the other, with no actual encounter between the two. In Ka-Zar #1 (1970) Black Panther turns up...but only in the second tale in the issue, which is a Hercules/Avengers tale, in which Ka-Zar does not appear. In Astonishing Tales #18 Ka-Zar ends up in New York battling Gog, who smashes the Statue of Liberty; in Avengers #113, Black Panther helps the Avengers put the landmark back together, but he doesn't meet Ka-Zar, who has long since departed. In Avengers #105, the Avengers go to South America to hunt some missing scientists and traverse the same underground tunnel once used by Karl Lykos, finding their way to the Savage Land, where they fight the Savage Land Mutates (or Beast Brood as they get called at this point); Black Panther recognises where they are and informs the others that this is the realm of Ka-Zar, so you'd think he must have met him, right? Nope. When Iron Man asks him about how he knows where to look for the missing scientists, BP responds that Ka-Zar is a friend of Daredevil, just as the Man Without Fear is his friend - what the jungle lord knows about the X-Men's battle with the Beast Brood has been passed on to him. They manage to finish their adventure and leave the Savage Land without ever encountering Ka-Zar. Ka-Zar is in Avengers #118 during the Avengers-Defenders War, but only in a cameo, part of a montage of heroes fighting demons around the world. Marvel Team-Up #19 sees Ka-Zar and Spidey fight Stegron, a battle that moves to NYC in #20 and brings BP into the frame to help the wall-crawler...but Ka-Zar gets left behind in the Savage Land and doesn't meets BP.
As far as I can tell, the first time they definitely appear in the same story and location is Contest of Champions #1, but even there, we are talking hundreds of characters in the same place, so there's no guarantee the pair met. In West Coast Avengers Annual #3 (1988), the Wackos try to stop High Evolutonary's agents stealing Vibranium, fighting them first in Wakanda alongside Black Panther, and then heading to the Savage Land, where they team up with Ka-Zar - but BP stays in Wakanda and so doesn't meet Ka-Zar.
I may have missed an earlier meeting, but I am fairly sure I haven't - as far as I can tell, the pair only finally meet in Captain America #415 (1993) - they are both in #414, but don't run into one another until the next issue. Given their dialogue, it's pretty clear that they haven't met before. BP recognises Ka-Zar, but only because descriptions he has been given match the man he meets, and when they fight (naturally) BP thinks to himself that his actions don't match how Steve has described Ka-Zar.