Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward fight finally set for T-Mobile Arena
The long, painful process of getting rapper Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports to formally commit to staging unbeaten Andre Ward’s fight against three-belt light-heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is over.
Roc Nation and Kovalev’s promoter, Main Events, officially announced Saturday that the anticipated Nov. 19 HBO pay-per-view bout is a go at the 20,000-seat arena, which staged the Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan boxing match in May and the major UFC 200 and UFC 202 events.
Tickets, starting at $55, go on sale Friday at axs.com and the T-Mobile Center box office.
The promoters had haggled over finalizing the deal based on a long-ago verbal agreement after Ward defeated Alexander Brand on HBO earlier this month.
Roc Nation, headed by Michael Yormark, continued its difficult-to-deal-with reputation by declining to announce where the fight would be as Ward and Kovalev met in the ring in Oakland to announce the fight after the Brand fight.
Jay Z’s company also rejected the idea of sending Ward (30-0, 15 knockouts) to a Kovalev appearance in Los Angeles the next week, briefly fueling concerns MGM would opt to place another fight or event at the venue on Nov. 19.
Yormark said in a prepared statement Saturday, “On boxing’s most legendary stage, we will find out who the best boxer in the world truly is.”
Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) has ached for a massive fight after dominating the likes of Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal.
“The winner of this fight could possibly be pound-for-pound No. 1,” Oakland’s Ward said.
Twitter: @LATimespugmire
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