NO HOLDS BARRED

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

SecondsOut Radio: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Carlos Baldomir, Joe Calzaghe, Sergei Liakhovich, Shannon Briggs, Juan Diaz, Fernando Angulo, Barry McGuigan, Frank Warren

On this week's packed edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman, previews the huge weekend of boxing which is approaching.

On Saturday, November 4, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir (43-9-6, 13 KOs) will defend his title against the fighter considered by most to be the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (36-0, 24 KOs). That fight will headline a pay-per-view telecast on HBO in the U.S. We spoke with both Baldomir and Mayweather this past week.

Also on Saturday, November 4, WBO heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich (23-1, 14 KOs), considered by many as among the very best of the fragmented heavyweight division, will defend his title against the former linear heavyweight champion of the world, Shannon Briggs (47-4-1, 41 KOs). That fight will take place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, and will be shown in the U.S. on Showtime. We spoke with Liakhovich, Briggs, and Liakhovich's manager, Ivaylo Gotzev, this past week.

The co-feature on that Showtime telecast will pit the undefeated WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz (30-0, 15 KOs) against challenger Fernando Angulo (18-3, 12 KOs). We spoke with both Diaz and Angulo this past week.

Plus, the undefeated WBO and IBF super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (42-0, 31 KOs), fresh from his victory October 14 over Sakio Bika at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, was in New York this past week along with promoter Frank Warren to meet with the American boxing media and to finalize their plans for next year. We spoke with both Calzaghe and Warren as well.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

There will be a discussion of the issues of religion and science on the nationally-syndicated "Joey Reynolds Show" Thursday night/Friday morning, Oct. 26/27.

The guests will be Matthew Alper, author of the 1996 cult classic, "The 'God' Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God"; New York-based comedian Joe Dixon; and myself. We will discuss this book, which takes a scientific and no-holds-barred look at religion.

The "Joey Reynolds Show" is heard on over 80 radio stations. This talk show airs live beginning at midnight EDT and runs to 5 AM EDT, on WOR 710 AM in New York. We are presently scheduled to come on towards the end of the show.

You can also listen to the "Joey Reynolds Show" online. For more information on the show's webcast, go to http://www.wor710.com/.

For more information on the "Joey Reynolds Show," go to http://wor710.com/pages/46370.php?contentType=4&contentId=157588.

For more information on Myra Chanin, who works with the show, and also about Joey and the show, go to http://motherwonderful.com/.

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

On this week's edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman begins by discussing the reaction to last Saturday's Pride mixed martial arts card in Las Vegas, their first in the U.S.

We then speak with Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, about boxing, mixed martial arts, and the plans of HBO and their attitude to both these sports.

Next, we speak with Bernadette Robinson, the "Boxing Queen of MySpace", who was also mentioned in my column in the latest issue of TapouT Magazine. We discuss how she got involved with boxing and how she is using the enormously popular social networking site MySpace.com to help publicize what is doing on in the sweet science. Her profile on MySpace is at http://www.myspace.com/bernapril20.

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here.

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The NO HOLDS BARRED theme song is called "The Heist", by musician Ian Carpenter.

NO HOLDS BARRED is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

King of the Cage, the number one cage fighting promotion on the planet.

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman previews the IBF heavyweight title fight between champion Wladimir Klitschko (46-3, 41 KOs) and challenger Calvin Brock (29-0, 22 KOs). This fight will take place November 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. We spoke with both Klitschko and Brock at a recent prefight news conference at the Garden.

Besides this fight, Wladimir also discussed the recent trip he and his brother Vitali, the now-retired former WBC and WBO heavyweight champion, made to Namibia in southern Africa as ambassadors of UNESCO and the project Education for Children in Need. A portion of the tickets sales from the November 11 card will go to this worthy cause.

We also spoke with the veteran trainer Amílcar Brusa, who trained the legendary middleweight champion Carlos Monzon. Brusa is currently a trainer for the WBC welterweight champion, Carlos Baldomir (43-9-6, 13 KOs), who fights top pound-for-pound fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. (36-0, 24 KOs) November 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We talked with Señor Brusa on a media teleconference call.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by discussing what would be best for the sport of boxing in the super middleweight division. Proposed as what should be the next major fight in that division is a title unification bout between two fighters who were victorious this past weekend in separate fights: the undefeated WBO and IBF champion, Joe Calzaghe (42-0, 31 KOs), and the undefeated WBA and WBC champion, Mikkel Kessler (38-0, 29 KOs). Also discussed are a comparison of the way boxing and American baseball determine their championships, and the role of the American television network HBO.

We then focus on the WBO heavyweight title fight to be held Saturday, November 4, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, and to be shown on Showtime in the U.S. That main event pits champion Sergei Liakhovich (23-1, 14 KOs) against challenger Shannon Briggs (47-4-1, 41 KOs). We speak with Liakhovich, Briggs, and this show's promoter, Don King, about this fight and the state of the heavyweight division. We also speak with the undefeated WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz (30-0, 15 KOs), who will be fighting in the co-feature bout.
It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

NO HOLDS BARRED: BodogFight, ADCC World Submission Fighting Championships, and IFL, and Interviews with Miguel Iturrate, Mark Kerr, Alex Schoenauer, and Kurt Otto

On this week's edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman begins by expounding a dim view on recent activities of UFC and Pride. The main focus of this week's show, however, are two of the newer mixed martial arts organizations, BodogFight and the International Fight League (IFL), along with the upcoming 2007 ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) World Submission Fighting Championships and the ADCC North American Trials, which take place Saturday, October 28, at the William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.

We spoke with Miguel Iturrate about BodogFight, the ADCC North American Trials, and the possible location for the 2007 ADCC World Submission Fighting Championships. Miguel is the matchmaker for the MFC, which is handling the fights for BodogFight, and also a spokesperson for the ADCC.

You can view the BodogFight show for free on both the Men's Outdoor Network, as well as their web site, at http://www.bodogfight.com.

The IFL will be holding their World Team Championship semifinals Thursday, November 2, at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore. Bas Rutten's Anacondas will face Matt Lindland's Wolfpack, and Carlos Newton's Dragons will take on Pat Miletich's Silverbacks. There will also be two superfights, as Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr faces Mike Whitehead, and Daniel Gracie fights Allan Goes.

On an IFL media teleconference call last week, we spoke with Mark Kerr about his return to action; Alex Schoenauer of the Anacondas about his fight on that Nov. 2 card against Aaron Stark of the Wolfpack; and IFL commissioner and co-founder Kurt Otto about both the successes and obstacles IFL has had as a company in their brief existence, and with their television deal with Fox Sports Net.

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here.

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The NO HOLDS BARRED theme song is called "The Heist", by musician Ian Carpenter.

NO HOLDS BARRED is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

King of the Cage, the number one cage fighting promotion on the planet.

The backstory was hardly that of an historic sporting event. When Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock first fought in UFC in 2002, Ortiz pounded him and won via a third-round TKO. Their rematch, in July of this year, was even more one-sided, as it took Ortiz just one minute and 18 seconds to ground-and-pound the now-42-year-old Shamrock.

Although Shamrock was obviously hurt and in trouble at the time of the stoppage of the rematch, some believed that referee Herb Dean had halted that contest prematurely. Thus, the UFC hype machine, which endlessly reminded us that these two supposedly hated each other, built an entire non-pay telecast on October 10 around their third meeting, even though virtually anyone who followed mixed martial arts and viewed it as a sport had no doubt who the victor would be, and once again in short order.

Their third fight ended the same as the second, this time in a mere two minutes and 23 seconds. Yet record numbers of viewers tuned in to see what was essentially a soap opera disguised as sport. The rating of the show in the U.S. was 3.1, meaning that it had been on in 2.8 million homes. It also received the largest viewership ever for any UFC fight.

What does this say about the current direction of UFC and the state of mixed martial arts? We start to answer those questions anew in my latest piece on the ADCC News. It is called "UFC's Ortiz-Shamrock 3: The Ultimate Sham".

Read it, learn, enjoy, and comment.

For those who want to hear this week's special two-part edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, where we interviewed MMA and wrestling legend Randy Couture, filmmaker and former wrestler Pericles Lewnes, and discussed both the extraordinary career of Couture and the new documentary film about him shot by Lewnes called "FIGHTER", please note that once again the first site I usually list where the show can be heard, PodOmatic, may be down again when you try to access it.

This entire two-part edition of NO HOLDS BARRED is still available, and of course for free, at alternate sites.

To listen to part one of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here.

To listen to part two of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here.

You can also just go to my page on NowPublic.com to hear this and most of the older shows.

11 AM EDT Update:

The PodOmatic admins wrote on their forum that their servers were down for about three and one half hours Friday morning but are now back up.

To listen to part one of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here or here.

To listen to part two of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here or here.

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by discussing some of the major controversies from this past weekend's fights. We focus on the fights involving WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev (45-0, 33 KOs), who defeated Monte Barrett (31-5, 17 KOs) by an 11th round TKO in Rosemont, Illinois, and the new WBC lightweight champion, Joel Casamayor (34-3-1, 21 KOs), who won a split decision over Diego Corrales (40-4, 33 KOs) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We also speak with the top super middleweight in the world, the undefeated WBO and IBF champion Joe Calzaghe (41-0, 31 KOs), who defends his titles against Sakio Bika (20-1-2, 13 KOs) this Saturday, October 14, in the MEN Arena in Manchester, England. We caught up with the champ on an international media teleconference call.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

On this special two-part edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman speaks with mixed martial arts and wrestling legend Randy Couture and filmmaker and former wrestler Pericles Lewnes. We focus both on the extraordinary career of Couture and the new documentary film about him shot by Lewnes, called "FIGHTER", which premiered last Friday, October 6, at a film festival at the world famous Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif.

In part one, we speak with Randy Couture about his role as a wrestler, both a four-time U.S. Greco-Roman national champion and a three-time All-American at Oklahoma State, entering the world of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1997. We discuss his current activities, including his upcoming submission wrestling match in the Professional Submission League in November, and his new position with The Fight Network. We also discuss the relations between the mixed martial arts and wrestling worlds, and his views on the state of both today.

In part two, we speak with Peri Lewnes about the documentary "FIGHTER". This film provides a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the mixed martial arts world of the mid- to late-1990s. The film also documents the key role played by former NCAA wrestling champion and Iowa Hawkeye Rico Chiapparelli in training wrestlers to make the transition to mixed martial arts. That period is considered by yours truly as the real Golden Age of UFC.

The documentary "FIGHTER" is a must-see for all those interested in mixed martial arts, wrestling, combat sports, or sports in general. It pulls no punches, and is thus a treat for those who like their combat sports history no-holds-barred.

"FIGHTER" is available on video from MMA Classics. The web site of Randy Couture is here. The web site of his new gym, the Legends Mixed Martial Arts Training Center in Hollywood, Calif., is here.

To listen to part one of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here.

To listen to part two of NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here.

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The NO HOLDS BARRED theme song is called "The Heist", by musician Ian Carpenter.

NO HOLDS BARRED is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

King of the Cage, the number one cage fighting promotion on the planet.

I received the message reposted below by e-mail about the closing of yet another boxing facility, this time in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for young people here in New York City. This is but one more unfortunate example of the bias against combat sports like boxing, wrestling, and mixed martial arts that is so pervasive in what has become this wormy apple of a town. But, as you see, people are rallying on all fronts to fight for their right to fight.

After this message is a press release put out by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) about the need to save the Sunset Park Boxing Gym.

Please repost these messages and help spread the word.

HELP SAVE SUNSET PARK BOXING

Down for the count? - Newsday.com

New York Daily News - Home - KO of kids boxing is called a low blow

New York Daily News - News & Views Columnists - Denis Hamill: Fund-raiser's a KO for city kids

The Sunset Park Boxing Club was established by Police Officers, run by Police Officers and financed by Police Officers & Firefighters through various Boxing Fund Raisers.

For over twenty years this program has provided neighborhood youth with a positive alternative to the gangs and drugs that surround them without costing the taxpayers of NYC one penny.

I am asking everyone to please send an e mail to the Deputy Director of Public Programs from the NYC Parks Mr. Kevin Jeffrey @
kevin.jeffrey@parks.nyc.gov
and respectfully ask them to re-consider and let our programs co-exist as they have successfully for the last twenty years.

Below is the last e mail that I received from Mr. Jeffrey.

Mr. Russo

Thanks for again forwarding the Denis Hamill column.

Please be assured that I am aware of all your program has done for some of the young people in the community. But I think you should probably be discussing this with PAL leadership who, I am sure, has mentioned to you the necessity of removing the boxing ring.

We have spoken to the many individuals you had asked to contact us, and I hope they have reaffirmed to you the spirit in which this decision was made.

The NYC Department of Health, at the behest of your organization, I believe, revisited the facility and subsequently upheld the determination that the ring must go if Parks is to continue to serve the hundreds of children registered in our Afterschool program. They are prepared to hold us in non-compliance for failure to remove the ring.

We are aware that some components of the ring are Parks' property, but we are prepared to deliver the entire ring to PAL, if necessary. In any case, it must be removed from the center by week's end.

Kevin Jeffrey

Please cc NYPDBOXING@aol.com on all e mails that you send.

Thank You,

Pat Russo
Boxing Director PAL/NYPD

Sen. Schumer: Save Sunset Park Boxing Gym

SCHUMER TO NYC PARK COMMISSONER BENEPE: "DON'T THROW IN THE TOWEL ON SUNSET PARK BOXING GYM"

October 5, 2006

Founded and Run By Off-Duty NYPDers, Sunset Park Boxing Gym Offers City Youth Exercise, Guidance and Protection from Crime, Drugs and Gangs

Schumer Letter Calls on Parks Department to Either Stop Eviction Orders on Gym or Find it a New Home

Following a recent decision by Commissioner Adrian Benepe of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to evict the Sunset Park Boxing Club from its current home at 4302 7 th Avenue, Brooklyn, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called on the Parks Department to repeal the eviction order and reinstate the valuable after-school program at its current location. For the past twenty years, the boxing gym based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and run by the Police Athletic League has offered neighborhood children a safe outlet to exercise, socialize and develop discipline under the supervision and instruction of New York City Police Officers. Benepe, however, recently ordered the boxing gym to leave its twenty-year old home in order to make room for a new program that will be housed there. Concerned that the children of Sunset Park could lose an invaluable after-school program that is vital to protecting them from crime, gangs, and violence, Schumer called on the Parks Department to either stop the eviction process or, at the very least, find the boxing gym a new location nearby.

"No one wins if the Sunset Park Boxing Club is evicted from its current location, and, sadly, it will be a knockout blow for many children who have come to rely on the gym as a place for both exercise and guidance," said Senator Schumer. "Therefore, I strongly urge Commissioner Benepe to reinstate the Sunset Park Boxing Club at the address it has called home for the past twenty years."

The Sunset Park Boxing Club, founded twenty-years ago by retired cop Patrick "Patty" Russo and other police officers determined to contribute to their local community, offers Sunset Park children extracurricular activities in a neighborhood where positive outlets are scarce. The club has trained several Golden Gloves champions and a U.S. Junior Olympic champion, and today continues to be managed and financed by police officers and firefighters at virtually no expense to New York City taxpayers.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation recently announced it will evict the boxing gym in order to make way for an alternative after-school program. Despite having enough space to house both programs, the Sunset Park Boxing Club was ordered to leave the address it's been at for twenty years. While the Senator commends Commissioner Benepe's efforts to offer additional opportunities to city children who all too often lack recreational activities, he is troubled that the livelihood of the boxing club is threatened under the new arrangement.

"By introducing an after-school program at the expense of an existing one, you will be punishing a program that has been so effective in inoculating our city's young minds against the temptations of drugs, crime and gangs," said Senator Schumer. "Thanks to the efforts of the NYPD and the FDNY, The Sunset Park Boxing Club has been an inspirational archetype for after-school programs across the city. We must protect it."

Because there is enough available space for both after-school programs, Senator Schumer is urging Commissioner Benepe to reinstate the Sunset Park Boxing Club at the address it has called home for the past twenty years. If Commissioner Benepe can offer the Senator and other concerned individuals involved a compelling argument on why the Sunset Park Boxing Club needs to be evicted, the Senator requests he at least find an alternative location for the club nearby.

The sport of boxing has long been a celebrated part of Brooklyn athletics and the entire city's competitive nature. Historically a vital source of opportunity for immigrants and native born alike, boxing has rallied New Yorkers behind homegrown legends including: Rocky Graziano, Riddick Bowe, Jake LaMotta, Mark Breland, Floyd Patterson and Zab Juddah. Boxing is credited with keeping countless numbers of kids out of the streets, teaching discipline and creating a positive outlet for youthful energy.

For those who want to hear this week's Frank Shamrock interview on NO HOLDS BARRED, or any of the other shows, please note that for at least some of Thursday, October 5, 2006, the first site I usually list where the show can be heard, PodOmatic, will be down. "We're going to be moving all our hardware into a different location in the wee hours of the morning on October 5th, 2006," they wrote on their forum, and that could be for between two or more hours.

For reasons such as this, I post the show on alternate sites. You can thus listen to this interview here and here.

You can also just go to my page on these sites, here and here, to hear most of the older shows.

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by reviewing the fight this past Friday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York between middleweight John Duddy (18-0, 15 KOs), originally from Derry, Ireland, and the veteran former world champion, Luis "Yory Boy" Campas (88-9, 72 KOs), from Navajoa, Mexico. In an intense brawl, Duddy won a hard-fought but close 12-round unanimous decision.

We then focus on the lightweight title fight this coming Saturday, October 7, between WBC champ Diego Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) and a former world champion, Joel Casamayor (33-3-1, 21 KOs). This is the third fight between these two world-class fighters, with each having won one of these previous bouts. This will be the main event on a card which will be televised in the U.S. on Showtime from Las Vegas, Nevada.

We also discuss the co-feature on that card which pits the undefeated IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (26-0, 21 KOs) against challenger Glenn Donaire (16-2-1, 9 KOs).

We spoke with Corrales, Casamayor, Darchinyan, Donaire, and promoter Gary Shaw on a media teleconference call.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

On this week's edition of NO HOLDS BARRED, host Eddie Goldman speaks with the athlete regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the mixed martial arts in the 1990's, and maybe of all time, Frank Shamrock.

Frank will be fighting Dec. 8 in San Jose, Calif., against Phil Baroni on a Strikeforce card. He also is in negotiations to fight Renzo Gracie early next year in the new World Fighter group.

But the discussion delved far deeper that merely reporting on upcoming bouts. In a lengthy discussion, we covered the state of mixed martial arts and Frank's views on both the art and business of fighting, including what he believes are the best business models for mixed martial arts. Frank elaborated on his criticisms of the California State Athletic Commission's controversial suspension of fighter Brian Ebersole for participating in an allegedly fake fight, a charge Frank vehemently disputed. A commission hearing on this situation is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 2.

We discussed his views on the art and techniques of fighting in the mixed martial arts. He expounded on his many blistering criticisms of the present owners of the UFC, Zuffa. He also revealed under what conditions he would return to the UFC. He stressed how happy he is being a coach in the International Fight League and how highly he thinks of that organization. And we even discussed Frank's profile on MySpace.com, as well as a television series we both like, "Desperate Housewives".

To listen to NO HOLDS BARRED, just click here or here or here.

Also, NO HOLDS BARRED is available through iTunes.

The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The NO HOLDS BARRED theme song is called "The Heist", by musician Ian Carpenter.

NO HOLDS BARRED is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

Chinchek Sports Wear, your online store for mixed martial arts, boxing, and kickboxing clothing, including shirts, fight shorts, hoodies, hats, and more. Wear what the pros like Frank Shamrock, Chris Lytle, and Ron Waterman wear.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

King of the Cage, the number one cage fighting promotion on the planet.