an raised to his lips on several occasions between rounds in the fight. Man

Rising featherweight contender Joseph JoJo Diaz Jr., a 2012 U.S. Olympian on the cusp of a world title shot, will face Horacio Violento Garcia on Dec. 17 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, Golden Boy Promotions announced Monday.The bout will serve as the televised co-feature on HBOs World Championship Boxing tripleheader headlined by the previously announced farewell fight for 51-year-old legend Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs), the former middleweight and light heavyweight world champion, who will end his 28-year career against Joe Smith (22-1, 18 KOs) in a 12-round light heavyweight contest.I have had a front-row seat to watch Joseph develop from an Olympian to a world-class professional fighter, and he is getting better each and every day, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. While JoJo will face one of his toughest challenges in Garcia, I am confident he comes out victorious and earns a world title shot in 2017.The 23-year-old Diaz (22-0, 13 KOs), of South El Monte, California, will defend his regional belt in a scheduled 10-round bout and look to go 4-0 on the year. Diaz is coming off an impressive performance in a ninth-round knockout of Andrew Cancio on Sept. 17 on the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith HBO PPV undercard at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.A world title has always been my goal, and Dec. 17 will be an incredible experience as I continue to pursue my dream of a being featherweight champion, Diaz said. Garcia is an extremely tough guy, but I am hitting my peak right now, and theres nothing thats going to stop me.Garcia (30-1-1, 22 KOs), 26, of Mexico, is coming off a 10-round spit draw with Erick Ruiz in a junior featherweight bout in May. Garcias only loss came by 10-round decision in a featherweight bout against three-division world titleholder Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan in May 2015.Joseph Diaz may be undefeated, but hes never faced anyone like me, Garcia said. I am looking forward to coming to Los Angeles Dec. 17, defeating Diaz and continuing my rise up the featherweight division.Although it is not yet official, recently crowed cruiserweight titleholder Oleksandr Usyk (10-0, 9 KOs), a 29-year-old southpaw with a big personality, is penciled in to make his first defense against Bosnias 32-year-old Damir Beljo (22-0, 18 KOs) in the opener.On Sept. 17, Usyk, the 2012 Olympic heavyweight champion from Ukraine, traveled to Poland and won a unanimous decision against Krzysztof Glowacki to take his world title. By winning the 200-pound belt in his 10th professional fight, Usyk broke the division record for fewest fights needed to win a world title. He surpassed the mark held by Evander Holyfield, who won a cruiserweight world title in his 12th fight when beat Hall of Famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi in an epic 15-rounder in 1986.The initial plan by HBO and K2 Promotions, which represents Usyk, was to have him make his first defense on Dec. 10 on the undercard of unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkins planned fight against secondary titleholder Daniel Jacobs.However, when the Golovkin-Jacobs negotiations dragged on and could not be finished in time to have the card on that date, pushing it into next year, Usyks fight was added to the Dec. 17 Golden Boy card.Custom Twins Jerseys . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Cheap Twins Jerseys . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. http://www.customtwinsjersey.com/ . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Custom Twins T-shirts . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Twins Jerseys China .com) - The Calgary Flames aim to bounce back from their first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago.Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight who fought two memorable bouts with Alexis Arguello, died Sunday. He was 60.Pryors family issued a statement saying the boxer died at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease.Known as The Hawk, Pryor was a crowd favorite who fought with a frenetic style, rarely if ever taking a step backward. His fights in the early 1980s with Arguello , the great Nicaraguan champion, were both classics that are still talked about in boxing circles.But Pryor was a troubled champion, and his career would unravel because of an addiction to cocaine.He was very unorthodox and could throw punches from all kinds of angles with great hand speed, said former Associated Press boxing writer Ed Schuyler Jr. He was a great fighter, its too bad he didnt have more fights.Pryors widow, Frankie Pryor, said her husband -- who would later speak out about the evils of drugs -- also had a side most fans didnt know about.Aaron was known around the world as `The Hawk and delighted millions of fans with his aggressive and crowd-pleasing boxing style, she said in a statement announcing his death. But to our family he was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend.Pryor was unbeaten in 31 fights when he and Arguello met in a 140-pound title clash in the Orange Bowl in Miami on Nov. 12, 1982. Arguello was a classic boxer-puncher considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters, but Pryor would not back off as the two men traded punches for the better part of 14 rounds.Pryor finally wore Arguello down, stopping him in the 14th round with a flurry of punches. Ring Magazine later picked the bout as the Fight of the Decade.dddddddddddd.It was one of the best fights Ive ever seen, Schuyler said. Id put it in the top five.Pryors win was marred, though, by questions about a bottle wrapped in black tape that his corner man raised to his lips on several occasions between rounds in the fight. Many in boxing thought it contained stimulants, but the corner man, Artie Curley, said it was peppermint schnapps.Pryor would beat Arguello again the next September in Las Vegas, this time stopping him in the 10th round of their scheduled 15-round bout. Arguello went down in the round from a series of punches and declined to get back up.Arguello was a great fighter but he couldnt handle Pryor, Schuyler said. He could have gotten up, but what was the point?The second Arguello fight was the pinnacle of Pryors career. He became a heavy cocaine user, and fought only six more times in the next seven years, finishing his career with a record of 39-1 with 35 knockouts.I reached out and certain people did not give me their right hand, Pryor said later of his drug use. They gave me drugs.Pryor was named the Greatest Jr. Welterweight of the Century by The Associated Press, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996. He would later travel the world making personal appearances and spreading his anti-drug message.Pryor is survived by his wife and partner of over a quarter of a century, Frankie Pryor, sons Aaron Pryor Jr. and Antwan Harris, daughter Elizabeth Wagner and three grandsons Adam, Austin and Aaron Pryor III. 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