Three-belt light-heavyweight champion Andre Ward of Oakland agreed to a June 17 rematch with Russia’s former champion Sergey Kovalev at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Ward (31-0, 15 knockouts) survived a second-round knockdown to pile up rounds in the second half of his Nov. 19 first meeting with then-unbeaten Kovalev and emerged with a unanimous-decision victory by three judges’ scores of 114-113.
Ward has been training with Gamespeed’s Aaron Thigpen since preparing for his super six tournament win over Carl Froch in 2011.
