Andre Ward's fight schedule in 2016 has filled up after the light heavyweight star agreed to a pair of fights in August and November.
The big one is a showdown between Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) and Russian superstar Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs) on Nov. 19 for Kovalev's WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles -- a fight that will be on HBO PPV and hosted at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It will be the former super middleweight champion's first title shot since moving up to the light heavyweight division.
Kovalev has been a monster in the light heavyweight division since he started accumulating belts in 2013 -- he's successfully defended the WBO belt eight times already. He will be in action on July 11 in his home country of Russia against Isaac Chilemba (23-3-2) for his tune-up bout before taking on Ward.
According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, Ward has also chosen his opponent in the interim, as he will face Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) in Ward's hometown of Oakland, California at Oracle Arena on Aug. 6. This will be Ward's third fight since returning to the ring in June 2015 after taking 19 months off. In his previous two bouts, Ward's won easily with a TKO of Paul Smith and unanimous decision over Sullivan Barrera.
Both Kovalev and Ward will be heavy favorites against Chilemba and Brand respectively and come into their pay-per-view bout highly confident and put on quite the show in Las Vegas.
