NUEVA YORK, Nueva York (Junio 28, 2016) - Roc Nation Sports se complace en anunciar que el dos veces campeón del mundo y de mayor audiencia de la libra por libra de combate Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) regresará al ring elSábado, Agosto 6, para continuar su conquista de la división de peso ligero cuando se enfrente al pegador poder de la marca Alexander Colombia (25-1, 19 KOs) at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, California. El evento será televisado en vivo por HBO World Championship Boxing.® a partir de las 10:30 p.m. Y/PT.
Ward and Brand were slated to face each other last November on the pay-per-view undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez, but a leg injury forced Ward to withdraw from participation in the event.
Boletos a un precio de $300, $120, $90, $60 y $30, sin incluir cargos e impuestos aplicables de servicio, salir a la venta el martes, Junio 28 en 5:00 p.m. PT and will be available at all Ticketmaster locations, en línea en Ticketmaster.com y cargo por teléfono al (800) 745-3000.
Sala vs. La marca es una pelea a 12 asaltos presentado por Roc Nation Deportes y patrocinado por Corona Extra, the motion picture HANDS OF STONE: The True Story of Roberto Duran, Soluciones de gestión de viajes corporativos (CTMS) and The Clorox Company, el apoyo a la Comunidad Área de la Bahía por más de 100 año.
“We can get it on, ahora mismo,"Dijo Ward. "Agosto 6º, estaré listo, so come out to Oracle Arena or tune in live on HBO. Don’t miss it.”
“It will be a great honor to face Andre Ward on August 6 and better yet in his own backyard,” said Brand. “Fighting somebody with such an illustrious career, facing a guy that perhaps hasn’t lost a round in his entire life, is even more thrilling. We were set to face each other last November, but he was forced to pull out of the fight with an injury. Now the time has come to fight him and I can’t wait to derail his future plans. I’ll work hard to spoil them.”
“Andre Ward’s quest to become the best light heavyweight on the planet and boxing’s number one pound-for-pound fighter continues on Agosto 6,"Dijo David Itskowitch, Director de operaciones de Boxing Roc Nation Sports. “Alexander Brand has been waiting for this fight since last year and we have no doubt he is going to enter the ring hungry for a huge victory. There’s a lot on the line in this fight for Andre who knows he can’t look past Brand towards a much discussed clash with Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey Kovalev.”
“Undefeated for the last two decades, technically brilliant and the last American man to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing, Andre Ward is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world,” said Peter Nelson, Vicepresidente Ejecutivo, HBO Sports. "En Agosto 6º, Andre continues his move up in weight to campaign in the 175-pound division against challenger Alexander Brand in front a hometown crowd at the Oracle.”
Conocido por su fuerte carácter y la integridad fuera del ring y el instinto de guerrero en su interior, 32 year-old Andre Ward’s skill and talent were apparent early in his outstanding amateur career. Él acumuló cada título en los libros, culminating in a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 2004 Juegos Olímpicos de Atenas, Grecia. As the only male American boxer to claim Olympic gold in the past
decade, Ward, se unió a la talla de Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard y Oscar De La Hoya. Se convirtió en profesional en diciembre 18, 2004, anotando una segunda victoria por nocaut técnico ronda sobre Chris Molina en el Staples Center, en una pelea que fue televisado en vivo por HBO. Ha llegado a acumular 27 más victorias desde entonces, la construcción de una legión creciente de los aficionados en el proceso. Después de convertirse en el campeón del mundo de Ring Magazine y AMB súper mediano, subiendo a la número dos en la lista libra-por-libra y ganar la 2011 Boxeador del Año (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Ring Magazine y la Asociación de Escritores de Boxeo de América), se anunció que la sala ha firmado un acuerdo exclusivo de promoción con Roc Nation Deportes en enero 2015, la apertura de un nuevo capítulo en su carrera en el boxeo pisos. El producto Bay Area regresó al ring en junio 20, 2015 en el Oracle Arena frente a sus fanáticos locales en Oakland, California y anotó un nocaut en el noveno asalto sobre Paul Smith, continuing his unbeaten streak which dates back to when he was a 12-year-old amateur. En su más reciente pelea en marzo 26, 2016, Ward made his highly publicized 175-pound debut against Cuba’s undefeated and IBF number one rated light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera in front of frenzied crowd at Oracle Arena that including luminaries such as Michael B. Jordania, Stephen Curry, Marshawn Lynch and Draymond Green. Ward expertly managed the fight and began to unravel his opponent in the third round when he caught Barrera with a counter left hook, dropping him to the canvas. The rest was a routine victory for Ward, who scored a dominating dispatch of Barrera by way of unanimous decision after 12 rondas. Ward looks forward to a formidable challenge in Brand who is now the only obstacle in the way of his anticipated showdown against Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey Kovalev in the fall.
Bogotá, Colombia native Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) turned professional at the relatively late age of 32 following a long and accomplished amateur career that saw him tally over 400 victorias. He burst on to the professional scene in 2009, scoring knockout wins in his first 12 fights and winning 15 de su primera 17 bouts inside the distance. His first and only professional setback came via an eight-round split decision loss to current WBC Super Middleweight World Champion Badou Jack in a 2012 fight that many ringside observers thought Brand had won. Desde esa pelea, Marca ha pasado todas las pruebas de anillo con gran éxito, notching eight consecutive victories. En su última pelea, Brand faced the sternest test of his career since the Jack fight when he fought a favored, undefeated and highly touted light heavyweight Medzhid Bektemirov on December 5, 2015 at Osceola Heritage Center in Kissimmee, Florida. Brand weathered an early Bektemirov blitz, including recovering from a first round knockdown, and notched a 10-round split decision victory by the scores of 98-91, 98-91 y 94-95. La 39 year-old Brand, who has held several regional title including the WBC Latino Super Middleweight and the WBC Silver Interim Super Middleweight Championships, will be looking to pull off another upset on Agosto 6 and thrust himself into light heavyweight title contention.
Siga la conversación utilizando #WardBrand.
Para obtener más información, por favor visite www.rocnation.com. Siga Roc Nation en Twitter e Instagramrocnation y en Facebook en www.facebook.com/RocNation.
Para obtener más información, visita www.hbo.com/boxing, seguirnos en Twitter y Instagram enHBOBoxing y hazte fan en Facebook en www.facebook.com/HBOBoxing.