Former super middleweight world champion Andre Ward will meet Alexander Brand on Aug. 6 in a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight fight at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, Ward’s hometown, multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement told ESPN.com on Tuesday.
The deal has not been signed yet, but both sides have agreed to terms, and it is expected to be finalized this week, the sources said. HBO will televise the fight.
Ward already has a signed agreement to challenge unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 19 (HBO PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in a showdown of two of the top fighters in the world pound-for-pound. However, both first have to come through interim fights.
The 33-year-old Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs), a Russia native living in Los Angeles, is first up. He is scheduled to defend his three 175-pound world title belts against top-10 contender Isaac Chilemba (24-3-2, 10 KOs), 28, on July 11 (HBO) in a homecoming fight at the DIVS Palace of Sports in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Chilemba is a native of Malawi who fights out of South Africa.
The contract between Kovalev promoter Main Events and Ward promoter Roc Nation Sports stipulated that their interim bouts had to be completed by July 30, but the camps signed a contract amendment that will allow Ward to go one week later on Aug. 6, according to a source with knowledge of the agreement.
Ward (29-0, 15 KOs), who vacated his 168-pound world title and moved up to 175 pounds, fought at the weight for the first time in a one-sided decision victory against then-undefeated contender Sullivan Barrera on March 26 at Oracle Arena. Before taking on Kovalev, Ward, who has had long stretches of inactivity since winning the Super Six World Boxing Classic in December 2012, wanted another interim fight to get used to the new weight class and to continue to shake off the rust of the extended layoff.
So Ward, 32, will face Brand (25-1, 19 KOs), a name familiar to him. Ward was training to face Brand on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas in the co-feature of the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto fight. However, Ward, suffering from swelling in his knee during training camp, withdrew from the bout, which was supposed to be the first of his exclusive HBO contract.
Before the fight was Brand was agreed to for the second time, Ward was headed toward a fight with Sweden’s Erik Skoglund (25-0, 11 KOs), but Skoglund’s team elected not to finalize the deal.
After the fight with Ward was called off in November, Brand, 39, of Colombia, survived a first-round knockdown and won a 10-round split decision against then-unbeaten Medzhid Bektemirov on Dec. 5 in Kissimmee, Florida. Brand’s only loss was an eight-round split decision in 2012 to Badou Jack, who went on to win a super middleweight world title. Brand has won eight fights in a row since.
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