Non-Pay-Per-View Bouts for Ward-Kovalev 2 Revealed

With Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev rightfully nabbing all of the attention for their hotly-anticipated rematch in a few weeks, HBO, Roc Nation Sports and Main Events have revealed the full lineup of non-televised bouts for the event. The action will commence on June 17 inside Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and the off-TV battles are intriguing.

Georgian welterweight prospect Enriko Gogokhia (4-0, 2 KOs) will take on fellow unbeaten Jonathan Steele (7-0, 5 KOs) over the course of six rounds; Russia’s Bakhram Murtazaliev (8-0, 6 KOs) will take on Gerald Sherrell (6-0, 2 KOs) in a six-round duel of undefeated middleweight prospects; John Bauza (6-0, 3 KOs) will collide with an opponent to be named in a four-round junior welterweight showdown; and Junior Younan (11-0, 8 KOs) is slated to face Hungarian veteran Zoltan Sera (28-12, 19 KOs) in a six-round super middleweight tussle.

In addition to the off-TV bouts, a special free-view telecast will be given to boxing fans beginning at 7 pm. ET/4 p.m. PT. The action will be available via HBO’s official YouTube channel as well as cable, satellite and telco channels prior to the main card goes live on PPV.

The featured bout on the free-view broadcast will see Vaughn Alexander (9-0, 6 KOs) oppose Brazilian Fabiano Pena (16-7-1, 13 KOs) in a middleweight eight-rounder. Preceding that bout will be an eight-round junior featherweight encounter between Tramaine “Mighty Midget” Williams (10-0, 3 KOs) and Christopher Martin (30-8-3, 10 KOs).