Unifying all the belts could be a very time-consuming effort

(STATS) -- San Diego was a one-point favorite over Dayton to win the Pioneer Football League in preseason voting by the leagues head coaches, with Drake a distant third. At the halfway point of PFL play, the Bulldogs can prove they belong in the title conversation when they host the Toreros on Saturday.Dayton has won 12 titles and San Diego has been champion seven times since the PFL began play in 1993. Drake is third all-time with six titles, the last coming in 2012 when the Bulldogs shared it with the Toreros and Butler.San Diego (4-1, 3-0), which has been selected as the preseason favorite in each of the last six years, is leading the way this season while Drake (3-3, 2-1) is right on its heels.The Toreros first league win came by 12 points over Dayton, and they won their next two by a combined score of 96-13. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have won their two PFL contests by a total of 16 points, with the only loss coming 35-10 at Dayton on Oct. 1.Those numbers would indicate San Diego has a pretty good chance of staying unbeaten in the league, but Drake has won 30 of its last 32 PFL home games. However, one of those losses came to the Toreros in 2014 when they scored a touchdown with 1:21 left to pull out a 17-14 victory.Thats part of three straight wins in the series for San Diego, including 27-0 at home last October. Anthony Lawrence led the way for the Toreros in that meeting, going 22 of 33 for 326 yards while throwing 16- and 62-yard TD passes to running back Jereke Armstrong, who also rushed for a 24-yard score.Drake didnt have to face running back Jonah Hodges due to an injury that limited him to four games last season, but hes back and leads the PFL with 569 rushing yards, 943 all-purpose yards and 10 TDs -- nine on the ground. Lawrence is completing a PFL-best 69.5 percent of his passes and has thrown for 1,241 yards and seven TDs for the Toreros, who top the league with 34.6 points and 455.8 total yards per game.Defensively, San Diego ranks first in points allowed per game (14.6) and against the pass (154.8), and is second in total defense (283.2).Theyre a great football team, really in every phase of the game, Bulldogs coach Rick Fox said. Theyve got a number of offensive weapons, they make you cover everything and then defensively, a lot of guys who can make plays all over the field. ... Weve got to show up and play Drake football and thats playing fast, playing physical, playing together.The Bulldogs have their own star running back in Conley Wilkins, who ranks second behind Hodges in the PFL with 558 rushing yards and 940 all-purpose yards. Tight end Eric Saubert leads the league with 40 catches, and is tied for first in touchdown receptions (five) and third in receiving yards (465).Drake does a really good job running the ball, theyve got an adequate passing game and we do not want to go down there and have to load up the box and have to stop the run and get ourselves exposed to the pass, said San Diego coach Dale Lindsey, whose team has won eight straight and 17 of its last 18 league games. Nike Jerseys . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. 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So far, Oleksandr Usyks plan is working perfectly -- but it is not quite done yet.The 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist from Ukraine came into the professional ranks with a goal to quickly win a cruiserweight world title, which he did in only his 10th professional fight on Sept. 17, when he traveled to Poland and won a unanimous decision to take the belt off Krzysztof Glowacki.Usyks checklist, however, also includes making it big in the United States, unifying cruiserweight titles, and then moving on -- like many top cruiserweights do -- to the heavyweight division for bigger fights and bigger money.Usyk will get started on the second item on his checklist on Saturday (HBO, 10 p.m. ET/PT) at The Forum in Inglewood, California, where he will make his U.S. debut and his first title defense against South Africas Thabiso The Rock Mchunu (17-2, 11 KOs), a 28-year-old southpaw contender, in the opener of a tripleheader.I have a very good impression of the United States, and I am very excited to fight here, Usyk told ESPN through translator, good friend and light heavyweight contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk, his bronze medal-winning Olympic teammate. From the beginning of my career I wanted to fight in the United States, and now my dreams come true.The card is headlined by legend Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs), the former middleweight and light heavyweight world champion from Philadelphia, who is a month shy of his 52nd birthday, closing out his 28-year career with a 12-round light heavyweight farewell fight against Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs), 27, of Shirley, New York.In the co-feature, 24-year-old featherweight up-and-comer Joseph JoJo Diaz (22-0, 13 KOs), a 2012 U.S. Olympian from South El Monte, California, will fight Horacio Violento Garcia (30-1-1, 22 KOs), 26, of Mexico, in a scheduled 10-rounder.Besides defending the belt, the 6-foot-3 Usyk also wants to entertain the fans. He is a showman with a big personality who likes to perform the traditional Ukrainian Hopak dance of the Cossacks in the ring.It comes from my heart, Usyk said of his dancing prowess. I was born with this, and I was thinking when I was a kid I would like to be an actor. I became a boxer, so I tried to combine the two by dancing.It is the showmanship as well as his fighting ability that made manager Egis Klimas, who has known the 29-year-old Usyk for years, want to get involved with his career. He finally signed him shortly after he won his title.I think because of his personality, the way he acts, I think he will have a very big fan base, said Klimas, who also manages former unified light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev, Gvozdyk and junior lightweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko, who is also a close friend and Olympic teammate of Usyks. I truly believe people [are] going to like him a lot.Usyk, a southpaw, is a popular fighter in Ukraine, where he sells out 10,000-seat arenas. He is promoted by K2 Promotions, whose figurehead, Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight world champion and current mayor of Kiev, is a fixture at his fights; he is expected at The Forum on Saturday. As popular as Usyk is in Ukraine, he and Klimas agreed that it was time to come to the U.S. and make a move.If all goes well, Klimas said Usyk probably would fight two of every three fiights in the U.ddddddddddddS. with one in Ukraine.America is still the mecca of boxing, Klimas said. You can be the most popular guy in Ukraine, but if you want the world to know who you are, and you want to unify titles, you need to be on this soil. That was his dream, to fight in America and to fight in a big arena.Definitely, being with the legendary Bernard Hopkins means a lot to him and our whole team. We have so much respect for Hopkins. Hes been a great fighter. Thats what Usyk wants to be. Our goal is also to get American fans and American [television] network behind us.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, the recently elected International Boxing Hall of Famer who won a cruiserweight world title in his 12th fight when he beat fellow Hall of Famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi in an epic 15-rounder in 1986.It was a record Usyk said he had his eye on from the start of his pro career.I knew about it. This was my goal to beat this record, he said. I was really happy when I did it. I like and respect Holyfield. I saw a lot of his fights growing up, and I am happy I can do it faster than he did.Then Usyk flashed his wit, adding with a laugh, Holyfield, nothing personal. Sorry, just business.Holyfield became the undisputed cruiserweight champion and then moved up to heavyweight division and became the undisputed champion there also. Usyk hopes to follow in his footsteps in the not-too-distant-future.Im not fighting at heavyweight now because we should go step-by-step, said Usyk, who was introduced to boxing at age 15 by his late father. I want to become a star in the United States because I want to show everyone quality boxing.Unifying all the belts could be a very time-consuming effort, so Usyk said he would like to at least unify two belts before leaving the division.From the beginning I wanted to dominate in the cruiserweight division, unify titles and then go to heavyweight, Usyk said. I think maybe in a couple of years, maybe in 2018, you will see me in the heavyweight division.Said Klimas: The most exciting thing about working with Usyk is maybe in a year and half, after unifying titles, he will turn into a heavyweight. This is a key. Thats a plan.Gvozdyk and Klimas believe Usyk can accomplish all that he says he wants to.I have no doubts about it, Gvozdyk said. I watch the cruiserweight champions, and he has a big chance to be the unified champion if he gets a chance to fight those guys. I know him. I used to spar with him. I have seen him against tough opponents. I see what he can do, and I think he can beat all of the [cruiserweight] champions.Said Klimas: I believe Usyk is right there with Kovalev and Lomachenko, the same level. I havent seen him live in a fight yet, only videos, but [Ive] seen him training and sparring. He went 15 rounds with four different sparring partners the other day and stepped out of the ring and went right to the heavy bag. His stamina is good. He has a big desire and heart. He has desire to prove to the world what he can do. ' ' '