By Igor Lazorin, tass

According to Egis Klimas, the manager of Sergey Kovalev, the negotiations are finally underway for a rematch with World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight world champion Andre Ward.

The two boxers collided last November at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ward got off the floor in the second round to win a twelve round unanimous decision. All three judges had it scored for the Olympic gold medal winner with identical tallies of 114-113.

There was a rematch clause in the bout agreement, which Kovalev quickly exercised to secure an immediate return bout.

As of last week, Kovalev's promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events was having a very difficult time with getting Roc Nation Sports, who promote Ward, to start negotiating the rematch.

"The negotiations have begun, but there is no concrete agreement," Klimas said.

There were some issues with getting Ward to come back to the table, as he was threatening the possibility of retiring unless the scenario with the rematch made sense.

Duva had previously informed BoxingScene.com that HBO prefers a date of June 17 for the rematch.

Roc Nation has now placed the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on hold for June 17, but they have not revealed if the date is for the Ward-Kovalev rematch or Miguel Cotto's rescheduled return. Cotto was set to return on HBO Pay-Per-View last Saturday, but his event got canceled after opponent James Kirkland withdrew with a fractured nose. Cotto is looking to rescheduled his return for a date in April or June.

Kovalev has a record of 30 wins (26 by knockout), one loss and one draw. And Ward has a perfect record of 31 victories (15 by knockout) and no defeats.