By Elisinio Castillo

Welterweight contender Luis Carlos Abregu has finally secured an opponent and a date. Several outlets in Argentina report that a deal was finalized earlier today for Abregu (36-1, 29 KOs) to face 2008 Olympian Sadam Ali (20-0, 12 KOs) on November 8th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The fight will replace the failed bout between James Kirkland and Gabe Rosadao, which was scheduled to open up the HBO broadcast for the light heavyweight unification between Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev.

Abregu-Ali has a certain flavor of political significance, because it's the first fight agreed upon between promotional rivals Top Rank (Abregu) and Golden Boy Promotions (Ali) since a 2011 featherweight clash between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Daniel Ponce De Leon.

Following the June departure of Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, majority shareholder Oscar De La Hoya took control of his company and began to repair his relationship with Top Rank and HBO.

Abregu is on a seven fight win streak since losing a tough decision to former two-division world champion Timothy Bradley in July of 2010. The Argentine puncher has been waiting in the wings for a televised return to HBO. He was last showcased on HBO, at least via highlight clips, on the network in April of 2013, defeating Antonin Decarie of Canada.

Sean Gibbons, Abregu's agent, stated to BoxingScene.com - "Nobody wanted to fight him. He is most feared welterweight in the world. We tried to get him fights with Mike Alvarado, Manny Pacquiao, Brandon Rios - they all turned him down. We knocked out Thomas Dulorme and because nobody wanted to Abregu - Dulorme returned to HBO before Abregu did."

"We take our hat off to Sadam Ali to accepting this fight when nobody else would. Abregu has been waiting for his chance to return to HBO. We are happy to be part of the first fight to bring back the union between Top Rank and Golden Boy. We are more than happy to fight Sadam Ali in Atlantic City. He didn't want to fight us in Las Vegas, so our date got moved from December 13th. We'll fight him in AC, Brooklyn or his own house. Abregu wants big fights, title fights, and he plans to make a statement on November 8th and unfortunately Ali is the guy in the other corner."