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. Custom Dallas Cowboys Jerseys Cheap . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Custom Football Jerseys . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. http://www.customjerseysfootball.com/ . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Cheap Custom Jerseys . 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This weekend in Hungary, electronic sensors have been fitted on the outsides of Turns 4 and 8 to detect when drivers run wide, allowing race control to monitor the situation more closely.But Alonso says such debates are only a talking point in F1 because the on-track action is not enough of a talking point.I think there have been some -- not polemics -- but some debates here and there with the track limits, he said. Its normal when it is a very media-driven sport.I think it [exceeding track limits] happened in all the races in motor sport, sometimes I see it in touring cars or DTM or MotoGP and they are all over the place or they cut the last chicane and they win and are celebrating with no investigation after the race, nothing.Here [in F1] everything is a mountain, even small things. Its part of the sport and probably something Formula One wants, to keep people talking. Now that the show is not very good, its good to have some polemics around the races.But Alonso does not blame the dominance of Mercedes for the supposed decline in interest.I dont think that there being one team dominant [is the problem], it has always been like this in a way. But the show was good enough and now it is not good enough for whatever reason -- because the cars are ttoo slow, too heavy or the noise is not good or the prices are too high or whatever.ddddddddddddWhatever it is, I dont know, its not the same and its something obvious. When you see some regulations changed or some polemics or track limits or radio restrictions, sometimes I think they have made this to tale about something between races, because it makes no sense.Alonso believes less regulation rather than more is the key to making the sport exciting again.I think it needs a little bit more freedom for the teams, the drivers -- relaxing a little bit everything will be good, like it always used to be in F1. I think the teams had the possibility to choose the weight distribution, to choose their own cambers and tyre pressures, their own philosophy of rear wing or even six wheels on a car!Now if you painted all the cars black you would not know which team built which car. The cars look similar, but just different colours because the rules are quite strict. We need to make the car like this, with this width, this height and everything. It is a little bit strange.Its the same for the drivers -- if we had a little bit more freedom to race and less penalties. We have to do the same thing at the same time at the same hour and if you dont do one of these things you have to go to the stewards and you will have a penalty - a time penalty, a reprimand, points ... it doesnt matter if you are five minutes late to the briefing or if you go five minutes late to the autograph session. You are allowed to breathe and not much more. ' ' '