By Francisco Salazar

Middleweight contender Curtis Stevens has been chomping at the bit to get back in the ring on a high-profile card. He got his wish, but the only way people will watch his fight is if they are there in person.

Stevens returns to action on November 19 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., it was announced today through Main Events, his promoter, and Roc Nation.

The hard-hitting middleweight will face James De La Rosa in a 10 round bout on the non-televised card of the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward fight.  Stevens (28-5, 21 KOs) is coming off a second round stoppage victory over Patrick Teixeira on May 7, also at the T-Mobile Arena. It was the first fight for Stevens in over a year and a half.

“I'm happy someone is willing to fight me,” said Stevens in a release. “Bless the Gods. Now, it's time to turn it up a notch and get ready to check in and check out. The Bully is back!"

Stevens, who is from Brooklyn, N.Y., fought once in 2015 on a Big Knockout Boxing card.

De La Rosa (23-4, 13 KOs) has lost his last two bouts and three of his last five bouts. He lost a one-sided decision to unbeaten Jason Quigley on May 7. 

This will be Stevens's second fight working with world-renowned trainer and former world champion John David Jackson. Jackson added, "Curtis Stevens is happy to be stepping back in the ring on November 19 against De La Rosa. He is eager to show the world that he deserves another chance to win the middleweight world title."

"It's always good to fight on a big stage," said De La Rosa. "As always, I'm coming to fight and put on a show. I know I have a tough fighter in front of me in Curtis Stevens. With his style and my style, we'll warm the fans up for Kovalev-Ward. Thanks to Main Events and AC Sports Management, LLC for putting this together."

De La Rosa's manager Adrian Clark added, "This is a must win situation for James and I know that he has the potential to pull off an upset. Curtis Stevens is a very dangerous opposition but again, I believe that JDLR can spoil things and leave Vegas with a 'W'. It is great to finally work with Main Events again. It has been too long!"

Main Events' matchmaker and 2015 NABF Matchmaker of the Year Jolene Mizzone had this to say about the match-up: "Kudos to both guys for taking this fight. Curtis Stevens could have waited around for someone to finally accept his challenge, but he wants to keep busy and challenge himself at the same time. James could have looked for that every popular "tune-up" fight but instead opted for a much tougher competitor in Stevens.  It's a breath of fresh air when I get to work with boxers who want to fight!"

Francisco A. Salazar has written for krikya360.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing