NOVA IORQUE, Nova Iorque (Junho 28, 2016) - Roc Nation Sports tem o prazer de anunciar que Duas vezes Campeão do Mundo e com a melhor nota pound-for-pound lutador Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) vai voltar aos ringues emSábado, Agosto 6, to continue his conquest of the light heavyweight division when he takes on power-punching Colombian Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, Califórnia. The event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing® começando no 10:30 p.m. E/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.
Ingressos ao preço de $300, $120, $90, $60 e $30, não incluindo encargos de serviço aplicáveis e os impostos, go on sale Tuesday, Junho 28 em 5:00 p.m. PT and will be available at all Ticketmaster locations, on-line em Ticketmaster.com e cobrar pelo telefone (800) 745-3000.
Ward vs. Brand is a 12-round fight presented by Roc Nation Sports and sponsored by Corona Extra, the motion picture HANDS OF STONE: The True Story of Roberto Duran, Soluções de Gestão de Viagens Corporativas (CTMS) and The Clorox Company, supporting the Bay Area Community for over 100 anos.
“We can get it on, agora mesmo,", Disse Ward. "Agosto 6th, estarei pronto, 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,"Disse David Itskowitch, COO of 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, Vice-Presidente Executivo, HBO Sports. “On August 6th, 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.”
Conhecido por seu caráter forte e integridade fora do ringue e seu instinto de guerreiro dentro dele, 32 year-old Andre Ward’s skill and talent were apparent early in his outstanding amateur career. Ele acumulou todos os títulos nos livros, culminating in a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 2004 Jogos Olímpicos de Atenas, Grécia. As the only male American boxer to claim Olympic gold in the past
decade, Ward juntou os gostos de Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard e Oscar De La Hoya. Tornou-se profissional em dezembro 18, 2004, marcando uma segunda rodada vitória por nocaute técnico sobre Chris Molina no Staples Center, em uma luta que foi televisionado ao vivo pela HBO. Ele passou a acumular 27 mais vitórias desde então, a construção de uma legião crescente de fãs no processo. Depois de se tornar a revista Ring e WBA Super campeão dos médios do Mundo, subindo para o segundo lugar na lista pound-for-pound e ganhar o 2011 Lutador do Ano (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Revista Anel e escritores Boxing Association of America), foi anunciado que Ward assinou um acordo de exclusividade promocional com Roc Nation Sports em janeiro 2015, abrindo um novo capítulo em sua carreira de boxe andares. O produto Bay Area voltou ao ringue em junho 20, 2015 no Oracle Arena em frente de seus fãs cidade natal em Oakland, Califórnia e marcou um nocaute nona rodada sobre Paul Smith, continuing his unbeaten streak which dates back to when he was a 12-year-old amateur. In his most recent fight on March 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. Jordânia, 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 rounds. 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 vitórias. He burst on to the professional scene in 2009, scoring knockout wins in his first 12 fights and winning 15 de seu primeiro 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 que luta, Marca passou todos os testes anel com cores de vôo, notching eight consecutive victories. Em sua última luta, 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 e 94-95. O 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.
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