By Keith Idec

Mulitple sources confirmed Saturday that contracts have been finalized for the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward showdown.

As planned all along, their HBO Pay-Per-View fight will take place November 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. An official announcement is expected soon, but representatives for Kovalev and Ward could not be reached Saturday by BoxingScene.com.

The completion of negotiations between Main Events, Kovalev’s promoter, and Roc Nation Sports, Ward’s promoter, for the highest-quality fight on the remainder of the 2016 boxing calendar ended three weeks of speculation regarding the site of the fight and whether it actually would fall apart over mostly minor contractual details.

An official announcement was made August 9 in Los Angeles, but only Kovalev attended a press conference during which the site of the fight wasn’t announced. The absence of Ward (30-0, 15 KOs), of Hayward, California, at that press conference intensified rumors regarding his genuine willingness to challenge Kovalev for the Russian knockout artist’s IBF, WBA and WBO 175-pound championships.

The former undisputed super middleweight champion maintained throughout this process, though, that he is beyond willing to face Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) and that the deal would be consummated in the near future.

Meanwhile, his representatives at Roc Nation Sports considered Madison Square Garden as a potential site for this 12-round fight. Ultimately, however, Main Events and Roc Nation Sports hammered out final details to bring the fight to Las Vegas’ newest multipurpose venue.

Tickets to the November 19 card will go on sale shortly after the official announcement is made.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.