CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- North Carolina coach Larry Fedora knows all about the unpredictable nature of the Atlantic Coast Conferences Coastal Division after his Tar Heels made a surprise climb to the top last season.Staying there? Now that will be tough based on the divisions recent run.While league heavyweights Clemson and Florida State just trade the Atlantic Division crown back and forth, the Coastal keeps making a mess of all the preseason expectations. There hasnt been a repeat division champion since 2011, while the past three champs were all teams picked to finish fifth or worse in the seven-team field.Now its the Tar Heels turn to try to become the first division team to repeat as champion since Virginia Tech did it in 2010-11.Were still working exactly the same, whether people are talking about us or not, Fedora said Thursday during the ACC Kickoff preseason media days. Thats never been the motivating factor anyway, so whether you pick us first, you pick us last, it doesnt really matter.The ACC will release the medias preseason picks next week. And the Tar Heels (11-3) will be a favorite after a season that saw them match the program record for wins, post their first 8-0 ACC mark and even pop into the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since Mack Browns final season before leaving for Texas.UNC went on to lose to top-ranked Clemson 45-37 in the ACC championship game, but returns plenty of talent on offense with tailback Elijah Hood along with receivers Ryan Switzer and Mack Hollins two years removed from a 6-7 season.Offseason workouts have amped up a little bit because were not dwelling on a six-win season or a seven-win season, Switzer said. We had an 11-win season and the opportunity to have even more wins is in front of us, which gets us a lot more pumped up and get us a lot more motivated.Still, things have rarely gone to plan in the Coastal of late.In 2013, Duke went from being picked to finish last to winning the division as the defining moment in David Cutcliffes rebuilding of a long-woeful program. A year later, Georgia Tech won the division after being picked to finish fifth in preseason.Miami was picked to win the Coastal both times but went just 8-8 over those two years.And last season, the Yellow Jackets were picked to repeat as division champ only to finish last at 1-7 as the Tar Heels surprised everyone after being picked fifth.Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson summed it up when asked by a reporter about the Yellow Jackets likely having lower preseason expectations.Well, weve only been picked to win the thing one time and we finished last, Johnson said. So you guys dont have a very good track record.One thing is certain: theres plenty of experience back throughout the division in 2016. Every team has at least six returning starters on offense -- the Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes each boast nine -- with five of the seven returning their starting quarterback.On the defensive side, six of the seven teams have at least six returning defensive starters led by Pittsburgh, which returns eight a year after finishing as division runner-up to UNC.On top of that, theres a new variable this year with roughly half the division teams introducing new coaches: Mark Richt at Miami, Bronco Mendenhall at Virginia and Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech.No one in Charlotte is pretending to know what will happen, either.I think its exciting, Duke all-conference specialist DeVon Edwards said. You never know what youre going to get on that Saturday.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the APs college football site at http://collegefootball.ap.org Authentic Willson Contreras Jersey . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Authentic Ryne Sandberg Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. http://www.cheapcubsjerseys.us/authentic-anthony-rizzo-jersey/ . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Authentic Ian Happ Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Wholesale Cubs Jerseys Authentic . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. A roundup of the past weeks notable boxing results from around the world:Saturday at Arlington, TexasCanelo Alvarez KO9 Liam Smith Alvarez wins a junior middleweight title Records: Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs); Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs)Rafaels remarks:?Alvarez, the lineal middleweight world champion, might have drawn the ire of boxing fans around the world when he dodged a showdown with unified titleholder Gennady Golovkin in favor of returning to junior middleweight, where he once unified titles, to challenge the unknown Smith for his belt. However, Alvarez is still a beloved figure, especially among Mexican fight fans, and they turned out for him big-time. Alvarez was a huge favorite in the fight on Mexican Independence Day weekend at Jerry Jones AT&T Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys), but he still drew an announced crowd of 51,240 -- the biggest crowd of any of the three boxing cards that have taken place there (the other two were headlined by a prime Manny Pacquiao in 2010).Alvarez, 26, put on quite a show in an exciting, albeit one-sided, fight as he beat down the game Smith, 28, of England, in the expected mismatch. Smith was making his third title defense but facing his first significant opponent. Alvarez hammered him to the head and body with both hands throughout the fight (despite hurting a knuckle on his right hand in the second round) and opened a cut over his right eye in the fifth round. In all, Alvarez dropped Smith three times -- with a right hand to the side of the head in the seventh round, with a left hook to the body in the eighth round and, finally, with a fight-ending left hook to the body in the ninth round that sent him to the mat in obvious agony as referee Luis Pabon immediately stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 28 seconds.Smith gave Alvarez credit for his performance, although he did say that he had stopped sparring in preparation for the fight on Aug. 12 after suffering a cut during a sparring session. Nonetheless, it was another big knockout win for Alvarez, who (if his hand is OK) will be back in action Dec. 10 -- just not against Golovkin. He and his team say that is a fight they want, but not until this time next year. And, so, we will wait for the biggest fight boxing has to offer.Willie Monroe Jr. W12?Gabriel Rosado Middleweight Scores:?118-110, 117-111, 116-112 Records:?Monroe (21-2, 6 KOs); Rosado (23-10, 13 KOs)?Rafaels remarks: Monroe and Rosado are both solid second-tier contenders and former world title challengers who have always been willing to fight anyone. But their styles simply did not mesh in this mess of a fight that was the co-feature of Golden Boys atrocious HBO PPV undercard. Golden Boy said before the fight that the Monroe-Rosado winner was essentially auditioning to be on the short list of possible Canelo Alvarez opponents for a tentative Dec. 10 fight -- but no thanks, not after this positively lackluster fight.Monroe, a 29-year-old southpaw from Rochester, New York, who won the 2014 ESPN Boxcino tournament to make a name for himself, did a good job on defense but also held, grabbed and backed up often against one-dimensional Rosado, 30, of Philadelphia, who never got anything going in a frustrating fight to watch. According to CompuBox punch statistics, Monroe landed 119 of 361 blows (33 percent) and Rosado just 63 of 416 punches (15 percent). Monroe was the clear winner; he controlled the pace and action and landed a lot more punches, but it was a miserable fight to watch and fans deserve to see Alvarez against a better, more crowd-pleasing opponent.Joseph Diaz Jr. TKO9 Andrew Cancio Featherweight Records:?Diaz (22-0, 13 KOs); Cancio (17-4-2, 13 KOs)?Rafaels remarks:?Diaz, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, is probably on his way to a world title fight. He is a fine prospect on the verge of becoming a serious contender, and this fight showcased his skills and ring smarts. The 23-year-old, a southpaw from South El Monte, California, manhandled Cancio, 27, of Blythe, California, with ease. He tagged him repeatedly with left hands and combinations and dominated the fight all the way. In the third round, Diaz opened a bad cut on the bridge of Cancios nose, and it caused him problems; in the later rounds, it was bleeding so heavily that the blood was going into his mouth.Finally, in the ninth round, with Cancio taking a beating and the blood flowing, trainer Danny Garcia threw in the towel, causing referee Gregorio Alvarez to stop the fight bout at 2 minutes, 26 seconds. Diazs advantage in the CompuBox statistics was overwhelming. He landed 230 of 492 punches (47 percent) to Cancios 52 of 365 (14 percent). Diaz is ready for bigger and better things.Diego De La Hoya?W10?Luis Orlando Del Valle Junior featherweight Scores: 100-90, 99-91 (twice) Records: De La Hoya?(16-0, 9 KOs); Del Valle (22-3, 16 KOs)Rafaels remarks:?Mexicos 22-year-old De La Hoya is the first cousin of promoter and Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya, which means he has big shoes to fill with that last name. But he looks as if he has real talent and not just a famous name. Del Valle, 29, of Puerto Rico, was by far his most significant opponent, and De La Hoya passed the test with flying colors in a totally dominant performance. He was much faster with his hands and feet, countered very nicely and landed numerous stiff punches that marked up Del Valles face.Golden Boy said before the fight that a strong performance would force it to put De La Hoya on the faster track to a world title, and that is probably where he is headed in the next few fights. It was an excellent performance from a quality prospect against a good veteran.Sadam Ali?W10?Saul Corral Welterweight Scores:?99-91, 99-90 (twice) Records: Ali (23-1, 13 KOs); Corral (22-8, 13 KOs)Rafaels remarks:?In March, Ali, a 27-year-old from New York (Brooklyn), suffered his first loss when he got knocked out in the ninth round by Jessie Vargas fighting for a vacant welterweight world title. Making his return, Ali, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, was clicking on all cylinders in a one-sided romp over Corral, 29, of Mexico, whose three-fight winning streak ended. Ali punctuated his victory by scoring a knockdown in the fourth round when he nailed Corral with a left hand and dropped him moments later withh a right hand on the chin.ddddddddddddSaturday at Gdansk, PolandOleksandr Usyk?W12?Krzysztof Glowacki Usyk wins a cruiserweight title Scores:?119-109, 117-111 (twice) Records:?Usyk (10-0, 9 KOs); Glowacki (26-1, 16 KOs)Rafaels remarks:?Although most expected this to be a hotly contested and outstanding fight, mandatory challenger Usyk, 29, the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist, made easy work of fellow southpaw Glowacki, 29, on his Polish turf in a surprisingly one-sided fight. By winning the belt, Usyk set a division record by winning a title in the fewest fights, doing so in his 10th bout to surpass the old record of 12, which was set by Evander Holyfield when he beat Hall of Famer Dwight Muhammad Qawi in an epic 15-rounder in 1986.Usyks lateral movement, jab and quickness trumped the more stationary Glowacki, who had few answers for him. Usyk, who opened a cut over Glowackis right eye in the third round, also landed a lot of good right hooks, while Glowacki was reduced to looking for one big shot that he never came close to landing. He lost the belt in his second defense after claiming the title 13 months ago in a dramatic upset by knocking out long-reigning titleholder Marco Huck in the 11th round and then retaining the belt by unanimous decision against former titlist Steve Cunningham in April.Friday at Osaka, JapanHozumi Hasegawa?TKO9?Hugo Ruiz Hasegawa wins a junior featherweight title Records:?Hasegawa (36-5, 16 KOs); Ruiz (36-4, 32 KOs)Rafaels remarks: Hasegawa, a 35-year-old Japanese southpaw and former bantamweight and featherweight world titleholder, won a title in his third weight class as he made Ruiz, 29, of Mexico, retire on his stool after the ninth round. Ruiz won the belt in February by drilling Julio Ceja in the first round of their rematch and was making his first defense. Ruiz bled from his nose beginning in the first round thanks to an accidental head-butt. Under the WBCs poor head-butt rule, Hasegawa was docked one point as the fighter who did not get cut during an accidental head clash. Ruiz, who was diagnosed with a broken nose after the fight, retired because of the pain in his nose and because he was having difficulty breathing.In the seventh round, another accidental head-butt opened a cut over Hasegawas left eye, but referee Hector Afu did not call it a head-butt, so there was no point deduction, even though it was clear on television replays. However, after the round, the supervisor, who had seen the replay, told him to take the point, which he did. Open scoring -- another awful rule -- was also being used, so Hasegawa knew after the eighth round that he was ahead 78-72 and 76-74 while Ruiz led 76-74 on one card. After a high-contact ninth round, Ruiz elected not to continue.Shinsuke Yamanaka?TKO7 Anselmo Moreno Yamanaka retains a bantamweight title Scores:?115-113 (twice) Yamanaka, 115-113 Moreno Records: Yamanaka?(26-0-2, 18 KOs); Moreno (36-5-1, 12 KOs)Rafaels remarks: In September 2015, Yamanaka won a razor-close split decision against former longtime titleholder Moreno, 31, of Panama, to keep his title. After the fellow southpaws each won their next fight, they met in a rematch, and this time Yamanaka, 33, of Japan, left no doubt, scoring a knockout and retaining his title for the 11th time in a barn burner in which both men got knocked down, Yamanaka once and Moreno, who has lost three of his past four bouts, four times.The fight got off to a blazing start, and, as the first round came to a close, Yamanaka clipped Moreno with a left hand to knock him down. Moreno scored a knockdown of his own when he nailed Yamanaka with a right hook in the fourth round. They battled back and forth, and Yamanaka dropped Moreno again in the sixth round with another tremendous left hand. Yamanaka picked up the pace in the seventh round with Moreno ready to go and dropped him twice more, forcing referee Daniel Van de Wiele to wave off the fight after the second knockdown of the round at 1 minute, 9 seconds. This was a very good fight.Friday at Las VegasIshe Smith?W10 Frank Galarza Junior middleweight Scores:?96-93, 95-94, 95-95 Records:?Smith (29-8, 12 KOs); Galarza (17-2-2, 11 KOs)Rafaels remarks:?Former junior middleweight titlist Smith, 38, of Las Vegas, claimed a close majority decision against Galarza, 31, of Brooklyn, to keep his slim hopes for another title shot alive in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Bounce TV. It was a close fight, but Smiths edge came courtesy of a knockdown he scored with a right hand to drop Galarza late in the second round. Galarza said he was off balance, but it was a knockdown nonetheless. Galarza tightened the fight thanks to his constant pressure of Smith, but Smith had a big 10th round in which he landed a lot of punches to seal the victory and hand Galarza his second defeat in a row.Also on the card was junior middleweight Justin DeLoach (16-1, 8 KOs), 22, of Augusta, Georgia, who handed substitute opponent Domonique Dolton (17-1-1, 9 KOs), 26, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, his first loss. Dolton, who bled through the second half of the fight from a large cut on the bridge of his nose, was filling in for injured Chris Pearson (14-1, 10 KOs) and lost 99-91, 98-92 and 96-94.Thursday at PhiladelphiaDusty Hernandez-Harrison?W10 Thomas Cornflake LaManna Welterweight Scores:?98-92, 97-93 (twice) Records:?Hernandez-Harrison (30-0-1, 16 KOs); LaManna (21-2, 9 KOs)Rafaels remarks: Hernandez-Harrison, 22, of Washington, D.C., followed up his draw with Mike Dallas in May, with a clear-cut decision against LaManna, 24, of Millville, New Jersey, in the CBS Sports Network-televised main event. It was a rough fight that forced both to show heart, but Hernandez-Harrison, whose punches were a bit cleaner, got the well-deserved edge from the judges.Also on the card was 31-year-old Cincinnati heavyweight Ray Edwards (12-0-1, 7 KOs); the former longtime NFL defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons plodded his way to a decision against Dan Pasciolla (8-2-1, 0 KOs), 31, of Brick, New Jersey, via scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Cheap Stitched Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Wholesale NFL T-shirts ' ' '
