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. Cheap Nike Soccer Jerseys . -- Jakob Silfverberg is making himself right at home with the Anaheim Ducks, scoring four goals in his first four games. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open. http://www.soccerauthenticjerseys.com/ . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Cheap Soccer Jerseys China . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. BATON ROUGE, La. -- Antonio Blakeney scored 23 points as LSU pulled away in the second half for an 84-65 non-conference victory over Houston on Tuesday.Blakeney, whose fast-break layup with one second remaining gave the Tigers a 39-38 halftime advantage and led an 8-0 run which enabled LSU (5-2) to take control of the game early in the second half. Blakeney made two baskets, one a 3-pointer, as the Tigers went ahead 53-42 with 15:50 to play. Houston (5-1) did not trail by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.Blakeney scored 14 points, hitting a season-high 10 field goals, and grabbed five of his eight rebounds in the second half.In the second half, we did a great job executing offensively, LSU coach Johnny Jones said. On the defensive end, we were getting stops. As the game continued, our guys did a tremendous job competing at a high level against one of the better teams we will face prior to conference.LSU shot 50 percent from the field (36-of-72), including 44 percent on 3-pointers (8-of-18). But, the difference in the game was on the backboards, where the Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 46-28. LSU turned 20 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points.Winning the war on the boards and getting second-chance points was a focus, Blakeney said. Thats why coach (Jones) started sending me to the glass.Craig (Victor) and all the bigs were trying to get rebounds because we got beat on the boards in the Bahamas. We were just trying to correct our mistakes.Three LSU players besides Blakeney scored in double figures. Brandon Sampson had 16 points, all but two in the first half. Victor had 13 points and nine rebounds in his first start of the year. Aaron Epps, who was replaced by Victor in the lineup, had 11 points and seven rebounds.Rob Gray was the top scorer for Houston with 19 points. Damyean Dotson added 13 points, while Devin Davis had 12. The Cougars were badly beaten inside as they were outscored 46-26 in the paint.We didnt play very well at all in any area in the first half, but we had a chance to get the lead, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. I didnt see a lot of pop tonight. Their size was a factor. We had three starterrs who did not get a defensive rebound.dddddddddddd We have to be a rebounding team.BIG PICTURELSU: The Tigers, who lost two of three games last week at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, remained unbeaten at home with their fourth straight victory. LSU, which blocked nine shots and made seven steals, lost 105-98 in overtime at Houston last season.HOUSTON: The Cougars failed in their attempt to open a season 6-0 for just the fourth time in school history. Houston was badly beaten in its first true road game of the season.HUGE STAT NIGHTSLSUs Craig Victor was suspended from the team for the first three games of the season. Victor, a returning starter, came off the bench for all of the Tigers games in the Bahamas. Victor provided a spark in his first start -- not only with his 13 points and nine rebounds, but also with a career-high four steals. Meanwhile, freshman point guard Skylar Mays came off the bench to hand out 11 assists -- the most for a LSU player in Johnny Jones five seasons as coach.WHERE DID THE OFFENSE GOHouston was no match inside for LSU, but the Cougars also struggled mightily with their shooting. Coming into Tuesdays game, Houston was shooting 51 percent from the field, including 46 percent on 3-pointers. The Tigers held the Cougars to 40 percent from the field (21-of-52), including 29 percent on 3-pointers (5-of-17). Houston made just eight field goals in the second half.KEEPING LSU ALIVEThe Tigers never trailed by more than four points in the first half. Brandon Sampson was the player responsible for keeping LSU within striking distance of Houston. Sampson made five of his seven field goal attempts in the first half, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. Sampson made two of his 3-pointers in a 90-second stretch late in the first half when the Cougars had built leads of three and four points.UP NEXTLSU: The Tigers will take a two-week break for semester exams before returning for a home game against North Carolina Central on Dec. 13.HOUSTON: The Cougars play host to Prairie View on Saturday. ' ' '