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SYDNEY -- It was more than two hours before the start of Saturdays U.S. college season opener between California and Hawaii, and Anthony Goodluck and his son were already milling outside Sydneys Olympic stadium, soaking up the early atmosphere.The rental company manager, dressed in a Cal Bears jersey, and son Jaiden, with a long Cal scarf wrapped around his neck, came 950 kilometers (590 miles) south from Brisbane for the big game.The weather was cooperating, with sunny skies and light winds on a late winter day and high temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) expected. Despite nearly 75 millimeters (three inches) of rain in the past week, the stadium turf was firmI actually coach some gridiron in Brisbane, and Id take college football over the NFL any day, said Goodluck. Im a big Miami fan -- go Hurricanes -- but after that I love Cal State. Were really looking forward to seeing our first game.Its the first time college football has been played in Sydney. The last American football of any kind was an NFL preseason game at the Olympic stadium that attracted 73,000 spectators in 1999.Organizers said two weeks ago they hoped for a crowd in excess of 65,000, but on Friday said only 45,000 tickets had been sold.Early arrivals Saturday had a chance to try their luck throwing an American football through a hole in a net in a radio station promotion. Foot-long hot dogs were big sellers at the outdoor booths, but in keeping with the multicultural nature of western Sydney where the stadium is located, Asian and middle Eastern goods also featured prominently on the menus.Michelle Hubbard of Melbourne was an early arrival for another reason -- her son, Ben Scruton, is a walk-on player for Hawaii and will travel back with the team when the Rainbow Warriors leave for Honolulu right after the game.I had to get him his visa, Hubbard said. And I have four tickets if anyone needs them. Ben bought them nearly a year ago for him and his mates. Now hes in the stadium as an official member of the team.Scruton was offered a spot after Hawaii conducted a scouting camp in Melbourne earlier this year. Hes like many other Australian Rules players who have earned spots on college teams and in the NFL, mostly as punters.Another set of parents were dressed in Cal uniforms -- Greg and Cynthia Madden -- who travelled from southern California to support their son, Cal defensive end DeVante Wilson.We cant wait to get in there, to get this thing started, Greg Madden said as a marching band warmed up inside the stadium.Both teams brought cheerleading squads to Australia, and Hawaii has 30 members of its marching band for Saturdays game.Cheap Steph Curry Shoes .Y. -- Marcell Dareus and the Buffalo Bills defence made life miserable for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. Steph Curry Shoes Outlet . 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. https://www.stephencurryshoescheap.com/ . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Wholesale Steph Curry Shoes . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. Steph Curry Shoes Free Shipping . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011.Clad in just his skivvies, Vijender Singh stepped carefully up onto the weighing machine. Unlike Francis Cheka, his opponent who will bid to depose him on Saturday evening of the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title, Vijender didnt take time to showboat. He would stand on the metal plate for just enough time to give a quick flex of his biceps for the photographers before stepping off.Cheka who until that point was good naturedly jiving to the Singh is King ditty that is sort of Vijenders anthem, wasnt too impressed. He gesticulated frantically at his manager and pointed at the machine. Vijender, Cheka apparently felt, was over the super middleweight limit of 76kg. Chekas manager now wanted Vijender to get on the scales again. Now pro boxing thrives on drama and Chekas protest promised to provide some. Unfortunately though, there would be none. The WBO medical supervisor gave the all clear. Vijender was seventy-six even.Cheka meanwhile had weighed in at 74.7kg. This means when the action moves out of the press conference room at the Thyagaraj stadium and into the ring being set up two floors below, on Saturday evening, the Indian will have a distinct benefit in muscle and bone in addition to the two inches in reach. The odds arent in favour of the 34-year-old Tanzanian veteran. Hes won just three of his last six fights (a quick sampling of betting sites would give you, at worst, a ten-fold return on investment in the unlikely scenario of a Cheka win). Vijender, 30, will most likely improve on his 7-0 (6 K.O) record. He should in all probability retain the belt he won by outpointing Australian veteran Kerry Hope over 10 rounds in August.Yet Cheka isnt a pushover. While he might be considered another rung in Vijenders climb up the professional ladder, its also true Cheka is a big step up, just as Hope was five months back. At the top of the professional pyramid are the champions. Obviously Vijender isnt one even though he holds a fringe regional belt. He isnt even a challenger. Yet after starting out facing absolute beginners and then jobbers, Vijender, in Hope and now Cheka is fighting boxers who once were challengers to challengers, or even champions themselves. Its clear, that as he starts facing the gatekeepers of the super middleweight division, Vijender is progressing.Battle hardenedWith a record of 32-9-2, the African is the most experienced fighter Vijender has faced so far. He has held belts from some of the minor sanctioning bodies but there are some high quality opponents in that resume too. Cheka has shared the ring with the likes of Russias Fedor Chudinov, Germanys Robert Steiglitz and Matthew Macklin and Paul Smith of Britain. After beating Cheka, Chudinov would go on to become WBA super middleweight champion while Steiglitz has twice held the WBO super middleweight title. Macklin has challenged three times for world titles including once against Gennady Golovkin while Smith, a two time world title contender once fought Andre Ward.Now, Cheka lost all these fights - to Macklin and Smith on points and Steiglitz and Chudinov by stoppage. But there is a subtext to this story. Chudinovs bout with Cheka was the ninth in his professional career. Paul Smith faced him in his 22nd fight, Macklin in his 24th and Steiglitz in his 27th bout. Many of the Tanzanians fights he says, were also put together at short notice giving him little time to prepare. In one of the contests a crooked cornerman threw in the towel when he was winning. The contest against Vijender was a last-minute affair too (the originally picked fighter -Turkeys Onder Ozgul picked up a shoulder injury in training) but as Cheka was already preparing for a fight later this month, he signed on against the Indian.Cheka is a quality opponent and the fact is that Vijender is taking a tougher fight at an earlier stage in his career than any of the big names who have fought Cheka previously. This is partly to be expected owing to Vijenders late start in the professional ranks. But its also clear that promoters Queensberry are speeding his development along. According to his manager Francis Warren, Vijender will be steered towards fighting for bigger titles next year.ddddddddddddLooking down the roadIn the horizon is a Commonwealth title fight against Australias Zac Dunn (23-0, 18 KOs), possibly in Australia. Other possible matchups include Rocky Fielding (22-1) and Luke Blackledge (22-3-2). With Vijenders age and amateur experience he doesnt need to be having too many fights for the kind of title hes fighting for on Saturday. Theres no point in Vijender fighting people who will only last a few rounds, Warren told ESPN. Warren isnt expecting the bout against Cheka to go very long and its not hard to see why. With nearly two decades of amateur pedigree behind him, Vijender is clearly the far better boxer.Chekas game in contrast has little tolerance for technical niceties. Im not looking to go ten rounds with Vijender. Im going to knock him out, Cheka says through an interpreter. Indeed Cheka will likely try to get Vijender to fight and negate the latters boxing superiority. Kerry Hope was marginally successful when he implemented the strategy during his unanimous decision loss at the same venue in July. But the bad tempered brawling style learned in hard scrabble Morogoro comes with its own limitations. Cheka has knocked out only 17 of his 42 opponents, which suggests he probably wont have the stopping power to trouble Vijender. But his high risk approach leaves him vulnerable as well.With his right arm hanging low to his side as he prepares to hook, Cheka will almost certainly be caught by Vijenders left. It will remain to be seen how well the African can take a punch. Vijender doesnt think he can. He doesnt have strong legs. Once I hit him the first time, he wont come forward, Vijender says. Indeed if all goes to plan on Saturday, Vijender will quickly control the distance between his opponent and make him pay when he lapses defensively. Despite a seemingly predictable result, the fight makes sense. Vijenders WBO rank - currently 11 - will rise, making it easier for him to set up fights with boxers in the top-10 and close in further on contender status. It makes good economic sense too. In India they want fights that sell a story. Cheka is a fight that wont set the boxing world alight, but it has captured the imagination in India, Warren tells ESPN.Pro boxing after all is about boxing but its also about business. Boxers need to be invested in and promoters and managers need a return in that investment through ticket and pay-per-view sales and TV rights. And in bouts like the one against Cheka, theres plenty of money to be made for Vijenders managers even if the demonetization linked economic slump has hit predictions of exactly how much that is. The bout will be a step up for them too.The last time Vijender fought in India, Neerav Tomar, the MD of IOS had predicted the fight would be the biggest sporting event of the month. We hardly did any promotion on the channel but we still got .35 TRP and 25 million viewers, says Tomar. But if July was a lean period sports wise, December is saturated. Yet Tomar isnt discouraged. We are looking to go even better, he says.Like Warren, Tomar too is looking for bigger ticket events. Wary of overexposure in the domestic market, he is looking overseas. Perhaps head back to the UK for a few bouts or even attempt to crack the middle east market with its significant Indian expatriate population.At some point next year Tomar hopes Vijender will be fighting the unbeaten Chinese Zulpikar Maimaitiali for the WBO Oriental belt. A title defence is compelling enough but there is not much you can do with an India -Tanzania contest. An India versus China matchup would be a marketers dream. Its left to Vijender to inject a dose of reality to proceedings.In a sport as unpredictable as boxing, a fight and by extension a career could end with a single lapse of concentration, a moment of misjudgement. Im not looking about a world bout or anything, he had said. Im taking it one bout at a time, one round at a time. Im going step by step. ' ' '