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LAS VEGAS -- The best boxing match of the year is expected to take place tonight in Las Vegas, but theres a good chance you didnt know about it.Theres also a decent chance you dont know much about the two fighters who make up just the 11th meeting between two of the top five fighters in Ring Magazines pound-for-pound rankings, which started in 1989.In fact, when Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) and Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) step into the ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the unified light heavyweight championship on the line, it will mark just the third bout over the past 25 years between a pair of top-five pound-for-pound fighters who both enter the match with undefeated records.Its the kind of main event fight with two fighters in their prime that should seep into the consciousness of mainstream sports fans more focused on college football and the NFL this time of year, but that has not been the case.Saturday marks the first pay-per-view fight for both Ward and Kovalev. It will also be Wards first fight in Las Vegas and Kovalevs third match in the fight capital of the word. As good as both fighters are, the true mark of a fighter breaking into the mainstream is becoming a pay-per-view fighter and headlining marquee cards in Las Vegas. In that sense, Saturday will be Ward and Kovalevs introduction for many casual fans who fork over money for pay-per-view fights only once or twice a year and still feel burned by the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao debacle over a year ago.But it takes time to build up the loyalty and following Mayweather and Pacquiao garnered from fight fans who dreamed of seeing both of them finally square off. It takes years of results, not weeks of promotion, to get fans to reach into their wallets and pay for a fight when theres an ample amount of other live sports on free television.Theres a storyline out there about what a shame it is that this fight isnt as big as Mayweather-Pacquiao, said Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events. As I tend to do when I try and solve problems, I did some research to try and gain some perspective. Floyd Mayweather fought on HBO nine times just like Sergey, and of course the four-year period where he headlined his first HBO pay-per-view versus Arturo Gatti in June of 2005, Gatti was the big draw of that fight. Manny Pacquiao fought on HBO for two years before headlining his first HBO [pay-per-view] in January of 2005 with Eric Morales.Those events sold in hundreds of thousands of buys; it wasnt until Floyd and Manny got the opportunity to defeat the already well-established superstar Oscar De La Hoya that they reached that million-buy benchmark. They fought on parallel paths for 10 years on pay-per-view to get to the place where they arrived last year and that of course is where every fighter wants to be and that is where Kovalev and Ward want to go. And so they have to start somewhere.Ward and Kovalev have to start somewhere as pay-per-view fighters, but the same is true with attracting a mainstream audience of pay-per-view buyers, and theres a good chance most casual fight fans will take a wait-and-see approach to both fighters before shelling out $69.99 to purchase the HD telecast of Saturdays card. If it turns out to be a candidate for fight of the year, as many pundits predict, the rematch will garner more buys, and if that ones another classic with the loser of the previous match coming out on top, the rubber match in the trilogy would see both fighters not only receive a record payday but carve out their legacies.Not too many guys make it on pay-per-view; thats the goal, said Lennox Lewis, the last undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Its a situation where people have to pay and watch you. After this fight, you dont want to do any other fights unless its pay-per-view. This is a great mark for these guys and this is the first step for them and where they want to stay. Its always important to win but they have to leave a lasting impression and make them want to come back for more.Duvas expectations for Saturday are somewhat tempered, knowing this will be the pay-per-view debut of both Ward and Kovalev and that many casual fans will likely hear about the result and watch the replay on HBO the following week before deciding if they want to invest in them moving forward.Were not going to get anybody thats never gotten a pay-per-view before, thats not happening on Saturday, Duva said. But were trying to get noticed and get that mainstream attention and you have to start somewhere. If we hit 200-250,000 [pay-per-view buys] Ill be dancing.Michael Yormark, Roc Nations president and chief of branding and strategy, understood the challenges of promoting this fight to a new audience that may be hesitant to pay to watch two fighters its not that familiar with.Andre hasnt fought out of Oakland in a while and Sergey doesnt have a big fan base that follows him and neither of them has fought on pay-per-view so there are challenges, but you have to sell the magnitude of this fight and how its perhaps the best fight on paper weve seen in 19 years, Yormark said. Im confident this fight will do better than other first-time pay-per-view fighters. When Triple G [Gennady Golovkin] was on pay-per-view last year, it did 150,000. We think this could be the biggest fight this year on pay-per-view.Chances are Saturdays fight wont be seen by many casual fans, but that doesnt mean it wont be a major turning point in the careers of two of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in boxing. Big-time pay-per-view matches between big-time pay-per-view fighters have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is Saturday night in Las Vegas for Kovalev and Ward. Discount Adidas Nmd . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. Cheap Wholesale Adidas Nmd . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.discountadidasnmd.com/ . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Wholesale Adidas Nmd . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Cheap Real Adidas Nmd . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Whether or not Faf du Plessis applied an artificial substance to the ball in Hobart was irrelevant, David Warner said on Tuesday. And, to the series outcome, perhaps that is true. But that du Plessis was that evening found guilty enough of ball-tampering to cop a fine was anything but irrelevant to crickets bigger picture.Under the Laws of Cricket - Law 42.3, to be precise - players are allowed to polish the ball provided that no artificial substance is used. Du Plessis second conviction in three years - and South Africas third - is a warning to the rest that there will be a crackdown on this law, even though there is no clarity on what, for crickets purposes, constitutes an artificial substance.Broadly speaking, we all have some idea that shoe polish is synthetic and saliva is natural but what if the shoe polish is mixed with saliva? How much of the synthetic substance needs to mix with the natural one for all of it to be deemed artificial? And what if the artificial substance is food? Organic food? The wording of the law is too vague.As Jason Gillespie said in an interview on these pages, Its a tough one because in the laws of the game it says, technically, no one should be able to have anything in their mouth on the ground. You shouldnt be able to have any lollies, chewing gum, anything. I mean how far do we want to go? You cant have a Gatorade or whatever power drink they have because its got sugar in it. So everyone, just drink water. Where do you want to go with it?Gillespie is one of several former players to support the storm in a teacup argument over the shining of the ball. It is actually just accepted and isnt a big deal, Matt Prior said on Twitter, while Sourav Ganguly told ESPNcricinfos Match Day du Plessis, is not the first person who has done it and I dont think he will be the last.That was what South Africa were hoping would get du Plessis out of trouble. They are understood to have used the everybody-does-it defense. They produced footage of several high-profile players, including Virat Kohli and David Warner, using saliva that could have come into contact with an artificial substance on the ball.Neither example is as blatant as du Plessis: Kohli rubs something close to his teeth and for a split-second there seems to be gum visible, while Warner applies a lip balm and then receives the ball after the next delivery to polish. For the ICC to investigate those clips and lay a charge, the matter should have been brought to its notice within five days of the event*. Consider the similarity to the seatbelt law. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of drivers and passengers choose not to buckle up and when they are caught, they are fined because they are guilty of an offense. Even if youre an advocate for freedom of choice, or you fervently believe the seatbelt wont save your life, or you just forgot to put it on, you are still guilty, and will be sanctioned, and so will everyone else who is caught.ddddddddddddut perhaps the dossier du Plessis defence produced - and the comments from former players - will prompt a thorough enquiry. It may even lead to a realisation that a law becomes redundant if it is so openly flouted. Or perhaps it will just cause those players to become even more discreet, particularly the South Africans.They are only team to be caught in the past three years and every time, it has been by broadcast cameras. There is one school of thought that du Plessis would not have found himself charged if only South Africa hid their actions as well as other teams. He has just been a bit stupid, Ganguly said. Maybe because he was ignorant that the camera was on him. He could have done it differently.In this case, if du Plessis had had the sweet under his tongue, for instance, he would have got away with it completely. The on-field umpires, who check the ball after every over to assess its condition, did not detect anything amiss. However, it is interesting to note that all three umpires were strong in telling the hearing that had they seen du Plessis actions on field, they would have taken action immediately. At least the officials and the administrators are in sync, even if the players are not.All that leaves the ICC with a problem. One of their own laws is being flouted because players have found ways to skirt around it. Clearly, some players view it as a law that exists just for the sake of it. If players are happy to break it so long as no-one gets caught, there is obviously a problem. If the ICC is serious about enforcing its law, they need to make better efforts to clamp down, as they did with illegal bowling actions. Otherwise, they could accept that some form of working the ball will take place and make room for that within the laws.Perhaps that is the most reasonable solution. In any case, most players arent sure how an artificial substance actually affects the way the ball moves. Im no expert in the science of how a sugary sweet will impact on the aerodynamics of a cricket ball. I wouldnt have a clue, Gillespie confessed.So here is a left-field thought: someone could try to find out. Scientific research could be conducted into what substances have an effect on the ball, and whether such effects are significant enough to justify the laws existence. Perhaps cricket would end up with a list of banned substances, as WADA does with doping. But that has its own problems in terms of practicality.The issue is a hazy one, but if this hearing brings any sort of clarity it will prove a landmark moment indeed.*1215GMT The piece has been altered to clarify the ICC process regarding the Kohli and Warner footage ' ' '