Klitschko, Peter to meet Sept 11 for a re-match

Bernd Boente, Klitschko's manager, told ESPN.com in an email, "We found an agreement which is not signed yet, but hopefully [Thursday] so that we can send out a press release."

Boente said they were planning a Monday news conference to formally announce the fight, which will take place at the 55,000-seat Commerzbank Arena.

Peter emerged as the likely candidate to land the fight last week after Alexander Povetkin, one of Klitschko's mandatory challengers for more than two years, withdrew. Peter was next in line in the IBF's rankings.

Povetkin had been scheduled for the fight after K2 Promotions, Klitschko's company, won a purse bid for $8.313 million. However, there has been an ongoing power struggle between Povetkin's promoter, Sauerland Event, and his trainer, Teddy Atlas, who did not want Povetkin to take the fight, felling that he was not ready. Povetkin listened to Atlas, who is also ESPN2's ringside commentator on "Friday Night Fights," and pulled out of the fight.

Klitschko (54-3, 48 KOs) and Peter (34-3, 27 KOs) first met in a 2005 title elimination bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Peter scored three knockdowns, but lost each round that he did not drop Klitschko and lost a decision.

Seven months later, Klitschko knocked out Chris Byrd in the seventh round to win a title and has made eight defenses while picking up other belts along the way.

"Peter came close last time. This time he has the experience that if he gets Klitschko in trouble again, he can finish him," Arum said. "If Peter happened to upset Klitschko that would really start a lot of talk in the heavyweight division."

Said Boente, "This is a very interesting fight especially with the history of the first one in 2005. By the way, we have already sold 15,000 tickets in the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt without an opponent."

Arum would not divulge terms of the deal, but the financial package for Top Rank and Peter is certainly less than the slightly more than $2 million Povetkin was due under the terms of the purse bid. Arum said they agreed to give Klitschko a rematch clause in the event he loses.

Besides an opportunity to avenge his loss to Klitschko, Peter can also make up for a poor performance against his older brother, Vitali Klitschko, who stopped Peter in the eighth round and relieved him of his title in Germany in 2008.

"We're going [Thursday] morning to sign. We're good to go," said Ivaylo Gotzev, Peter's manager. "My prediction has always been the same if we got a rematch. This time we're going to finish the job and not leave it to the judges' scorecard. We are going into the lion's den to take him out."