When Schmeling faced Mickey Walker, the future hall-of-famer who had recently held Sharkey to a draw that many felt Walker deserved, it was thought that this fight was for the real heavyweight championship.

The pain and infection was unbearable, and now Oh faced the prospect of pitching two more games — on back-to-back days — for the championship.

During this period, Nápoles also became a fan favorite in southern California, and, after beating Fate Davis, on February 15 of 1969 in Mexico, he was given an opportunity to win the world championship when he faced the current champion Curtis Cokes in Inglewood, on April 18.

In this game, they faced the Ottawa Rough Riders for the first time, marking the first Roughriders versus Rough Riders championship game in Canadian football history.

In the 54th Grey Cup, Saskatchewan once again faced the Ottawa Rough Riders in a rematch of the 1951 championship game.

On December 7, Giardello faced Dick Tiger in Atlantic City for the title and won, taking the world championship by decision in 15 rounds and drawing with Tiger in two others.

In the AFC championship, the Patriots faced the Indianapolis Colts.

Christian betrayed Page and faced off against him for the European championship at the WrestleMania X8 event on March 17, 2002, in which Page defeated him.

He was ranked 32 going into the 2012 world snooker championship qualifiers he faced Anthony Hamilton and after the first session he held a 6-3 advantage.

* The University of Maryland in 2002 is the only # 1 seed who has won the championship by defeating a # 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 seed-the highest possible seeds they could have faced in each round-en route to the final.

In the championship, he faced the world No. 2 and reigning World Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Finishing first in the league for the first time in five years, the Canadiens faced the Senators in the playoffs for the NHL championship.

In the final round, the Aeros faced the Orlando Solar Bears, and in a series that once again went the limit, the Aeros defeated Orlando in the seventh game by a 5 – 3 score to capture the championship.

Wexford later faced Tipperary in the All-Ireland final, a team that was attempting to capture a third championship title in-a-row.

A 12-17 to 2-3 victory gace Wexford an easy passage to the championship decider where they faced Cork.

On November 29, 2009 Sabu faced RVD for his AWR heavyweight championship belt in an extreme rules match in Oberhausen Germany.

This caused them to come home late, but instead of a " delay of game " in the championship, they faced defeats against BSK and Spartak Subotica as their youth team played those games.

A championship where Sweden came as a surprise to the finals where they faced Brazil.

Throughout the 1930s and 40's Tabor competed regionally against rival prep schools, with their strongest rival being Kent School having faced them in numerous Henley finals and American championship regattas.

In 1978 Kerry faced little competition in the provincial championship once again.

Nuremberg faced SpVgg Fürth in the first national championship held after the end of World War I and beat the defending champions 2: 0.

The Argonauts won the eastern championship, and faced the Edmonton Eskimos in the first east-west Grey Cup championship in Canadian history.

They faced Deportivo Marquense, losing the first match 0-1 and winning the second match 4-1, for a global score of 4-2 which gave them their fourth championship.

At a ceremony in the reception room of Mayor Richardson Dilworth, the Eagles were honored for winning the championship.

Swine showmanship championship went to Bob Day, with Tom Day and Hutchins winning other blues.

In the six-plus decades since winning the championship in 1947, the team suffered many losing seasons, and currently hold the league's longest active championship drought.

In 1969 – 70 Ajax won the Dutch league championship, winning 27 out of 34 games and scoring 100 goals.

San Francisco won its first championship in 1981, just two years after winning two games.

Meanwhile, the Browns unexpectedly had Cleveland to themselves ; the NFL's Cleveland Rams, who had continually lost money despite winning the 1945 NFL championship, moved to Los Angeles after that season.

Former Browns QB Otto Graham ( left, with head coach Paul Brown ), who led the Browns to 4 AAFC and 3 NFL Championships, and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member. While the championship losses sowed bitterness among Cleveland fans who had grown accustomed to winning, the team continued to make progress.

It was Graham's last game ; the win capped a 10-year run in which he led his team to the league championship every year, winning four in the AAFC and three in the NFL.

In the eleventh inning, Edgar Rentería drove in the winning run giving the Marlins their first championship.

The club bounced back immediately by winning the Second Division championship in 1988 – 89.

Earnhardt successfully defended his championship the following year, visiting victory lane eleven times and winning the championship by 489 points over Bill Elliott.

Argentina has emerged as a team to be reckoned with since 2000, winning the world championship in 2002 and 2010 and medals at the last three Olympics.

The Marlins have the distinction of winning a World Series championship every year they qualified for the postseason, doing so in 1997 and 2003 — both times as the National League wild card team.

In 1955, the year after Attucks had lost in the semistate final ( state quarterfinals ) to Milan's championship team, Attucks gained fame by winning the Indiana state championship, becoming the first all-black school in the nation to win a state title open to all schools regardless of race.

In 1959, Cooper obtained 2. 5-litre engines for the first time and Brabham put the extra power to good use by winning his first world championship race at the season-opening Monaco Grand Prix after Jean Behra's Ferrari and Stirling Moss's Cooper failed.

With two wins each, Brabham, Moss and Ferrari's Tony Brooks were all capable of winning the championship at the final event of the season, the United States Grand Prix at Sebring.

Most notably, Fujiwara was the first non-Thai to win an official Thai boxing title, when he defeated his Thai opponent in 1978 at Rajadamnern Stadium winning the lightweight championship bout.

The club posted a winning record in three of the last four seasons following their World Series championship season while developing young stars such as Bo Jackson, Tom Gordon, and Kevin Seitzer.

* Mallow, a championship winning Ultimate Frisbee Team.

These were the first two World Series in professional baseball history in which a team won the championship by winning all four home games.

Doohan competed successfully throughout the early 1990s and appeared to be on his way to winning his first world championship when he was seriously injured in a practice crash before the 1992 Dutch TT.

The Vikings entered the decade by winning the divisional championship and an appearance in the NFC Championship game, but struggled the following season by posting a 5 – 11 record in 2001.