By Keith Idec

BoxingScene.com has been advised that a date and venue has been finalized for the light heavyweight showdown between WBO world champion Sergey Kovalev and undefeated challenger Eleider Alvarez.

The HBO televised contest will take place on August 4th from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City.

The actual deal was reached last month, after Alvarez - who was the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Adonis Stevenson - was unable to come to a step-aside agreement - as Stevenson will defend his title next Saturday against Badou Jack.

Originally, Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) was going to defend his title against undefeated United States Olympian Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs), but the contest fell out after it was revealed last month that Browne had been arrested twice, in December of 2017 and March of this year, for domestic issues involving the mother of his daughter.

Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs) has been the mandatory challenger for Stevenson’s title since defeating South Africa’s Isaac Chilemba in November 2015, yet he has fought four times since then.

Among those wins, Alvarez has defeated former world champions Jean Pascal and Lucien Bute.

Although the World Boxing Council has ordered Stevenson to fight Alvarez on numerous occasions, for one reason or another the contest never came off and Stevenson was never stripped of his title.

Alvarez’s manager, Stephane Lepine, tried to arrange a step-aside agreement that would’ve enabled Alvarez to appear on the Stevenson-Jack undercard and face the winner in his following fight. Once it became clear they were too far apart on financial terms, Alvarez's promoter Yvon Michel began working with Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter, on a Kovalev-Alvarez fight.

A press conference to officially announce the fight is already scheduled to take place this Saturday at the Hard Rock in New York City.