• Heavyweight

Klitschko set for New York title defence

Wladimir Klitschko will fight in New York for the first time since 2008 © Getty Images

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Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will make his 18th title defence in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Centre on April 25.

It will be the first heavyweight championship bout at the two-year-old arena, which has already hosted more than a dozen fight cards.

Klitschko's opponent is not signed yet, but a deal to fight the unbeaten Bryant Jennings is expected to be finalised in the next couple of weeks.

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"The fight will be at the Barclays Center and we are very, very pleased," Bernd Boente, Klitschko's manager, told ESPN.com on Wednesday night.

"The contract is not signed yet but we have a handshake deal and we are getting everything finalized. It's a really good deal for both sides. We are all looking forward to a big event."

Boente said that if the deal with Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) is not finalised, Klitschko (63-3, 54 KOs) would still fight at the Barclays Centre but against a different opponent.

Boente had also been in talks with the Barclays Centre's rival New York arena, Madison Square Garden. Klitschko has not fought in the United States since unifying two belts with a one-sided decision victory against Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden in 2008.

But Klitschko has wanted to fight in New York again and the new deal with HBO, which began with his fifth-round knockout of Kubrat Pulev on November 15 in Germany, made it more feasible.

"The Barclays offer was better [than Madison Square Garden's]," Boente said. "We really like the people at the Garden. I really like Joel Fisher [executive vice president of MSG Sports]. We had fights with Wladimir and [older brother] Vitali there, but the overall cooperation is better with Barclays. They are putting huge marketing money into this and that is important."

Boente and Brett Yormark, the Barclays Center CEO, held talks about the arena hosting a Klitschko defence as the arena's first boxing event in 2012, but it fell through due to an exclusive deal with Golden Boy Promotions.

Now that Golden Boy is no longer exclusive, Boente said he and Yormark made a deal.

"They really want to have this event. I had meetings with the Garden and Barclays and Brett really wanted a Klitschko fight," added Boente.

"Remember, they wanted to open the arena with one of Wladimir's fights. We are really excited to go there. I've been through the whole arena. It's fantastic, a great arena. It's one the best arenas I've seen."

Klitschko typically trains in the Austrian mountains for his fights but Boente said that the 38-yaer-old, will train in Hollywood, Florida, keeping him closer to his fiancé, actress Hayden Panettiere, who gave birth to their first child on December 9.

"A review on the year: The birth of my daughter, two successful championship defences and many other achievements on the way," Klitschko wrote on his Instagram account on Monday. "It was a great year and I'm looking forward to 2015. I'm ready to take on new challenges!"

The fight will take place just days after Klitschko will have begun his 10th year with a world title, second-longest in heavyweight history.

Klitschko, the lineal champion and owner of three major alphabet belts, began his second title reign by knocking out Chris Byrd in the seventh round on April 22, 2006 in Germany, and is chasing Joe Louis' all-time record of 11 years, 8 months, 8 days as heavyweight champion.

Klitschko's 17 consecutive title defences are third-most in heavyweight history behind only Larry Holmes (20) and Louis (25, which is an all-time record for any weight class).

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