Roc Nation Speak on Ward, Cotto Doubleheader in Future

By Jake Donovan

Roc Nation Sports has a long way to go before establishing itself is a major player in the boxing business, but loading up with star talent certainly helps the building process. Beginning with its world-famous owner—hip-hop artist and music mogul Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter)—Roc Nation announced its arrival in 2014, unexpectedly showing up to win a purse bid for a middleweight fight between Peter Quillin and Matt Korobov.

The fight never happened, but Roc Nation was serious about digging in deep in the fight business. The New York-based company made its official promotional debut this past January, with its throne boxing series debuting on Fox Sports 1. Along the with the show came the announcement of its two biggest signings to date—reigning middleweight king Miguel Cotto and super middleweight champion Andre Ward.

Cotto made his RNS debut earlier this month, stopping Daniel Geale in four one-sided rounds at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Ward (27-0, 14KOs) now prepares for his first fight as a member of Roc Nation, returning to the ring for the first time in 19 months as he faces England’s Paul Smith.

The bout—which will be fought at a maximum catchweight of 172 lbs.—will air live on BET as the debut of a developing relationship between RNS and the network.

Naturally, Ward has to get past Smith this weekend before determining what’s in store for his future, as well as that of his promoter.

“[W]e’ve kicked around ideas with Andre’s team. A lot of what we do will be dictated by how Andre feels coming out of his fight on Saturday night,” clarified David Itskowitz, chief operation officer for Roc Nation Sports. “His weight, his performance and how he looks.

“Saturday night will go a long way to dictate the path we will go. The goal is for Andre to fight in big fights, in marquee fights.”

Cotto’s future has a bit more clarity. The superstar from Puerto Rico is on course for a showdown with Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez later in the year, in what figures to be a massive event.

The speculation from the boxing public when Ward and Cotto signed with RNS was whether the two would be steered towards a collision course. The massive difference in size and weight rules out such a fight from ever happening.

If not versus each other, there comes the wonder if both fighters could ever appear on the same card sometime down the road.

“With respect to Andre and Miguel fighting on the same card—financially that’s tough to put together, although crazier things have happened,” noted Itskowitz. “I’ll never say never but economically, it will be difficult.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox