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The Winnipeg Goldeyes have picked up exactly where they left off. Friday night in Grand Prairie, Tex., the Goldeyes got a great start from Matt Rusch, a homer from Josh Mazzola, three hits from Leonard Davis, a three-run sixth inning and a lock-down ninth inning from closer Patrick Keating to open the 2013 American Association season with a 4-2 win over the Grand Prairie AirHogs. “We were hitting on all cylinders,” said Goldeyes pitching coach Jamie Vermilyea on TSN 1290s post-game show. “We were throwing strikes, getting hits, playing defence. It was a good performance.” Indeed it was. The Goldeyes trailed 2-1 heading into the sixth when Mazzola homered and the Fish put up a three-spot and took the lead for good. The inning opened with a double from Fehlandt Lentini and after Nick Liles flew out, Davis singled home Lentini. Davis then scored ahead of Mazzola, who hit the game-winning two-run bomb. Meanwhile, as Davis and Mazzola each drove in two runs, the pitching staff was terrific. Rusch, who got the win, allowed two runs over five complete innings. Brendan Lafferty, Chris Kissock and Allen Caldwell each pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Keating shut it down in the ninth. While Rusch scattered six hits over five complete, the bullpen allowed only two over the next four. Rusch had five strikeouts while the bullpen added six – Lafferty had two, Kissock and Caldwell had one each and Keating struck out two in the ninth, including the final hitter from Grand Prairie, Joe Staley. “Rusch came out throwing strikes, kept our defense on their toes and they were making plays behind him,” said Vermilyea. “When youre throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters you can be very successful. “I mean you know you cant win ‘em all unless you win the first one and Matt gave us five solid innings and thats what we were looking for from him. Then we got an inning each from four relievers and now, if we need to, we can run them all out there tomorrow night.” Vermilyea was extremely impressed with the prowess of Davis, a former Washington Nationals minor league player of the year. The Goldeyes DH went three-for-four, drove in a pair and scored one. “Leonard Davis is getting better every day,” said Vermilyea. “Hes getting his timing down, hes really starting to hit his stride. Leonards looking good.” Rusch (1-0) got the win for Winnipeg. The man who earned the victory in the final game of last falls playoffs is off to a great start. Keating got the save, as five Goldeyes pitchers did not walk one AirHogs hitter. Starter Derek Blacksher (0-1) took the loss for Grand Prairie. He lasted just five innings, walked none, struck out one, and allowed four runs. The Goldeyes and AirHogs go at it again Friday night in Grand Prairie. 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Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Former world titleholders Orlando Salido and Takashi Miura, both fearless warriors with a nose for action-packed battles, will next take that style to the ring against each other.In a fight that virtually guarantees wild action, they will square off for a vacant interim junior lightweight title on Dec. 17 in the main event of an HBO Boxing After Dark card at The Forum in Inglewood, California, after their camps finalized a deal Thursday, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN.com.Its signed, sealed and delivered, De La Hoya said. Its not complicated matchmaking, but it goes to show you that we at Golden Boy want to make the best fights. We want to go out with a bang to close the year. Were hopefully going to do a tripleheader on HBO. Were talking to [HBO Sports executive vice president] Peter Nelson about it, because we want to give the fans a special treat for the holidays.Given their fight histories, Miura and Salido seem incapable of producing anything but an action-packed brawl.Miura (30-3-2, 23 KOs), a 32-year-old southpaw from Japan, won a junior lightweight world title in 2013 and made four successful defenses before losing it to Francisco Vargas by ninth-round knockout in November on the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto undercard at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The dramatic and action-packed bout was the 2015 ESPN.com fight of the year.Miura has fought once since, scoring a first-round knockout in Japan in May.Mexicos Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs), 35, a former junior lightweight and featherweight world titleholder, is just 0-1-2 in his past three fights, but each was an epic battle that many thought he won. In April 2015, he lost his junior lightweight title by decision to Roman Rocky Martinez in a scintillating fight of the year contender. He then was held to a split draw five months later in the rematch, which is another fight of the year contender.Those fights were so entertaining that Salido, who also has been in all-action slugfests that he won against Juan Manuel Lopez (twice) and Terdsak Kokietgym in recent years, was rewarded with a shot at Vargas.They met at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on June 4, one day after the death of Muhammad Ali, and they did The Greatest proud with a classic brawl that ended in a draw and is the leader for 2016 fight of the year honors. The draw also triggered Golden Boys options on Salidos next two fights, which enabled it to more easily work with his other promoter, Zanfer Promotions, to make the fight with Miura, whom Golden Boy co-promotes with Akihiko Hondas Teiken Boxing.All I can say is that boxing fans and subscribers to HBO are the absolute winners here, said Sean Gibbons, Salidos manager. Orlando Salido has already delivered one fight of the year candidate this year, and he is looking to close the year by delivering another one. We want to thank Peter Nelson for seeing and understanding this is a fight the fans want. Its a win-win for boxing and HBO.Salido hoped for an immediate rematch with Vargas, annd Miura also hoped for another chance to fight him.dddddddddddd But with Vargas suffering bad cuts against Salido, he will be out until at least early 2017. So the WBC approved Salido-Miura for the interim belt, and the winner will face Vargas next year.De La Hoya has special memories of The Forum because it is where he turned pro on Nov. 23, 1992, almost 24 years to the day when Salido-Miura will take place.I had my professional debut there, and I havent been there since [for boxing], De La Hoya said. It will be a special treat for me to promote a fight of this caliber in the arena where I initiated my professional career. To go back 24 years later is really exciting, especially when you have a fight like this.Their styles are made to create World War III. This is a cant-miss fight. The fans are in for a special treat. I cant wait.Gibbons said Salido also loves that the fight will take place at The Forum, site of many famous fights before it closed to the sport for more than a decade before reopening in 2014.A lot of his idols fought there, Gibbons said. There is so much beautiful history in that building, so for Salido to fight there, it will raise the level of his game.Asked to pick a favorite in the apparent 50-50 fight, De La Hoya said he leans slightly to Miura.I think Miura is the bigger guy and maybe the bigger puncher, De La Hoya said. So I guess hes the slight favorite, but Salido looked sensational against Vargas, strong and durable.As for the other fights he hopes HBO will televise, De La Hoya said he will speak to Nelson about a trio of fighters he promotes: featherweight Joseph Diaz (22-0, 13 KOs), a 2012 U.S. Olympian coming off a one-sided ninth-round knockout of Andrew Cancio on Sept. 17 on the Alvarez-Liam Smith undercard; welterweight Frankie Gomez (21-0, 13 KOs), who is coming off a 10-round shutout decision against Mauricio Herrera on the May 7 Alvarez-Amir Khan card; and former middleweight titlist David Lemieux (35-3, 32 KOs).HBO contractually owes Lemieux one fight, and he would have to win and be uninjured in an Oct. 22 bout in his native Montreal.Whatever we do we want to make sure we give the fans a great show to end the year with, he said.Salido-Miura came together rather quickly. When Alvarez was ruled out of a December HBO fight because he suffered a fractured right thumb against Smith in a ninth-round knockout win on HBO PPV on Sept. 17, the network suddenly had a windfall of money, in the neighborhood of $4 million, that was not going to be used this year.That gave Nelson the funds needed to make the Salido-Miura card, the Nov. 26 fight between junior lightweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters -- which was announced this week -- and, assuming the deal is finalized, unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin against mandatory challenger and secondary titleholder Daniel Jacobs on Dec. 10. ' ' '