Promoters Duco have confirmed that the Joseph Parker vs Andy Ruiz Jr bout will take place at Vector Arena in Auckland on December 10.
The fight for the vacant WBO heavyweight title will remain on New Zealand soil after Duco managed to secure the requisite financial backing following Auckland Council's denial of their bid for public funding last week.
That denial lead to speculation that the contest would be relocated to California, with Ruiz's promoter Bob Arum giving Duco a seven-day deadline to find the supposed shortfall of several hundreds of thousands of dollars, which will ultimately be provided by the TAB, Gallagher, and Burger King.
"This is a huge sporting event which I expect to unite the country, in a similar fashion to the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2015 Cricket World Cup," said Duco Events Chief Executive Martin Snedden.
"We are only able to host the event in Auckland because of the tremendous support from our sponsors who grasp just how big an occasion this will be for all New Zealanders."
Snedden confirmed the price of hosting the event would sit around the $4 million mark but that, despite the sponsor backing, the total cost was yet to be accounted for.
"We actually haven't secured all of the sponsorship we need, or were targeting, to run this event.
"What we have done so far is get ourselves to a threshold that enables us to say that we've got enough to be prepared to take this risk, we've got enough to go for the home advantage.
"There's a significant financial risk to us."
The WBO sanctioned the fight on October 21, allowing the No.1 ranked Parker and the No.3 ranked Ruiz to contest the belt vacated by troubled champion Tyson Fury.
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