NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman analyzes the Carl Frampton vs. Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia vs. Elio Rojas, and Adonis Stevenson vs. Thomas Williams Jr. fights from this past weekend, and previews fights involving Andre Ward and Terrell Gausha.

This past Saturday, July 30, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and shown live in the U.S. on Showtime, Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) captured the WBA featherweight belt with a majority decision over Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs). This battle was a fight of the year candidate, with the smaller Frampton also earning mention as a fighter of the year candidate by defeating two previously unbeaten fighters this year, Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg.

The co-feature saw the return of Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs), who stopped the veteran Elio Rojas (24-3, 14 KOs) in the fifth round of a 140-pound bout. Garcia was returning after a two-and-a-half year layoff because of a legal dispute with his previous promoter, Top Rank, which finally ended in his victory. With this win, Garcia said after the fight that he wants to fight at welterweight for now, as we await his decision on his plans. Rojas was also coming off a layoff after a contract dispute with his former promoter, Don King.

On Friday night, the WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) scored a fourth-round knockout victory over Thomas Williams Jr. (20-2, 14 KOs) in an old school and crowd-pleasing brawl. This was the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) show on Spike TV in the U.S., and took place at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. We also discuss some of the shortcomings of this telecast, and why the business of boxing should see itself as a TV product first.

On August 27, the 2012 U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha (18-0, 9 KOs) will continue to try to rise to the top of the 154-pound division, as he takes on Steve Martinez (16-2, 13 KOs) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. This fight will be part of a card shown on Spike TV in the U.S. Our colleague Chris Baldwin spoke with Terrell Gausha at a recent media event and got some brief comments from him.

Yet another fighter in the process of returning from a layoff caused by a contract dispute with his promoter is 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs). He will face 39-year-old Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) of Colombia on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, and shown live in the U.S. on HBO, in what is expected to be his last tune-up fight before facing light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the fall. We spoke with Andre Ward on a recent media conference call.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: Adonis Stevenson, Andre Ward, boxing, Carl Frampton, Eddie Goldman, Elio Rojas, Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia, No Holds Barred, Terrell Gausha, Thomas Williams Jr.

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with former pro soccer player, current politics professor at Pacific University in Oregon, and author Jules Boykoff.

His latest book is Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics.

We spoke with him by phone Wednesday.

"I really wanted to raise a number of themes that I felt haven't been illuminated that much in the histories that have been written about the Olympics," he said.

One was class privilege.

"Class privilege was a big part of the Olympics even from the beginning, when it started by a French aristocrat named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who basically got together a bunch of his dukes and counts and princes to start the International Olympic Committee (IOC). That kind of class privilege has threaded all the way through today," he said.

Another was the long history of "athlete activists, who had either taken a political stand or they stood for something transformative." And there is the "activism that's outside of the Olympics," including indigenous people, environmentalists, taxpayers, and others who have fought against all sorts of abuses done in the name of the Olympics. Still another goal was to help people learn about how capitalism works through the various predatory, unfair, and discriminatory practices of the IOC.

All this was discussed with the opening of the Rio Olympics almost upon us, on August 5. We discussed the mass displacement of people from their homes and especially the favelas, how like other Olympics this one is being used as a way for real estate interests to grab enormous profits, the environmental disasters facing the Rio Olympics, the phony promises made by politicians, and the mass movement and activities against the Olympics going on right now in Rio.

The book also reviews the history of several attempts at creating alternative games, including the Women's Games and Workers' Olympiads, which took place before World War II. We discussed those and why alternative games are not as strong today as they once were.

With many cities from Boston to Krakow to Toronto and others declining to bid on hosting Olympic Games, and the seemingly endless doping and embezzlement scandals facing both the IOC and numerous international federations, we discussed the prospects for reform of this Olympic monster.

With all these scandals and this growing opposition to the Olympics, he argued that the Olympic movement was "weaker" now than it had been in a long time, meaning conditions were ripe for fighting for basic changes right now. Fighting to reduce the size of the Olympics, demanding that resources be used for the people such as creating social housing out of Olympic facilities, and advocating an open voting process in the IOC were just some of the reforms discussed. But we also considered whether it is possible to reform the kind of huge money-making machine which the IOC has become.

And we discussed more on the Russian state-sponsored doping program, the dangers facing Los Angeles should that city be chosen to host the 2024 Olympics, the need for intellectuals and progressives to support sports programs for the people, and much, much more.

Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics is an entertaining and informative read, and is highly recommended in order to understand the historical and social roots of the growing crisis in the Olympic movement, and how to move forward.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: corruption, doping, Eddie Goldman, IOC, Jules Boykoff, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Power Games, Rio, sport

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Russian athletes to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which start August 5, despite unimpeachable evidence of Russia having a massive state-sponsored doping program. In light of this historic scandal, and the failure of the IOC to take appropriate measures, we officially crown both the IOC and Russia as the world champions of sport corruption. Also discussed are some of the lessons from this scandal, including that silence is consent; that no athletes, especially among the youth, or organizations should pursue the path of becoming part of these discredited and dirty Olympics; and that the emphasis instead should be on building grassroots sports.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: Bach, corruption, Eddie Goldman, IOC, McLaren, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Putin, report, Russia, sport, state-sponsored doping, WADA

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the audio from Monday's teleconference of the Toronto press conference with Professor Richard H. McLaren, law professor at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) enlisted Prof. McLaren to lead the investigation and to issue a report about media reports of state-sponsored doping in Russia in sport. The 103-page Independent McLaren Investigation Report was also made public Monday.

The three key findings of this report are:

1. The Moscow Laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology.

2. The Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Games.

3. The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, CSP, and both Moscow and Sochi Laboratories.

Unlike the many well-known situations where athletes decide to dope on their own, this was a state-sponsored doping program where failure to participate could harm an athlete's career.

While Prof. McLaren indicated that it was not part of the mandate for this report to investigate whether or not Russian athletes had been forced into the doping programs, he did say that they found evidence that "athletes who didn't participate in the program didn't get access to the best coaches, did not have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the national competition structure, etc. And in that sense they might feel forced into the system because if they didn't participate in the doping programs then they wouldn't have access to those different things I just described."

The complete McLaren Independent Investigations Report into Sochi Allegations can be read here.

Following the issuance of this report, the WADA Executive Committee made the following recommendations to the International Olympic Committee regarding Russian participation in the Rio Olympics, which start August 5:

"Given that the Russian Ministry of Sport orchestrated systematic cheating of Russian athletes to subvert the doping control process; and that, the evidence shows such subversion in 30 sports, including 20 Olympic summer sports and Paralympic sports, the presumption of innocence of athletes in these sports, and in all Russian sports, is seriously called into question.

"Accordingly, WADA recommends to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to consider, under their respective Charters, to decline entries, for Rio 2016, of all athletes submitted by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Paralympic Committee. Furthermore, any exceptional entry of a Russian athlete should be considered by the IOC and IPC for participation under a neutral flag and in accordance with very strict criteria."

The crisis in the Olympic movement continues to worsen, and there will surely be many more developments to come.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: Eddie Goldman, IOC, No Holds Barred, Olympics, report, Richard McLaren, Russia, sport, state-sponsored doping, WADA

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with former light heavyweight champion and current boxing trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

Originally from Brownsville, Brooklyn, he is now based in Las Vegas where he trains fighters at the Mayweather Boxing Club, including WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack and several other fighters.

We spoke with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad by phone Wednesday.

"I make world champions," he said, as we discussed recent fights by Badou Jack and other fighters he trains, including a string of highly questionable judges' decisions. Badou Jack has also recently been named by the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame the "Nevada Fighter of the Year."

"Boxing," he said, "is a business now. There's so much money involved in boxing which pay-per-view provided, it makes it a business. It's not a sport no more. That's just plain and simple."

While Eddie Mustafa Muhammad is a fighting man inside the ring, outside the ring he is a man of peace. And he does not like what he is seeing with so many young Black and Latino men being shot down in the streets by police.

"The civilians in the street are not starting this war," he said. "It's the police officers that are starting this war."

Note also that this statement is coming from a son of a New York City housing police officer.

"I'm not saying every officer is a bad police officer, because they're not," he continued. "But, you have these guys that have that that God complex because I carry a gun, I can basically do what I want to do.

"Remember, officers: When they made your gun, they made one for a lot of other people also. And you saw what happened in Dallas, Texas. May God rest those guys' souls and find a greater peaceful resting place in paradise. That was never supposed to happen."

He thus believes that these problems will not go away soon, and "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

But he does advocate a dialogue between members of the communities, civic leaders, and the police.

"I'm willing to do anything that turns this negative situation into a positive situation," he said. "And I know a lot of guys that grew up the same way I grew up, in the inner city, and made something out of themselves, are willing to go back into the inner city and put their celebrity on the line and do what they got to do."

Since so many boxers came from impoverished areas, he argued, they can play an important role in trying to solve this crisis.

As an example, he noted that the elementary school he attended in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in the 1950s and 60s, P.S. 125, has sat abandoned and in ruins for several decades.

"It's going to take money. Talk is cheap. It's going to take money for jobs. Talk is cheap," he reiterated.

We also discussed why he believes that the PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) has been good for boxing; how he has a gun and a concealed carry permit; why social media has been so important for boxing; how he is "on the Internet all the time"; and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to TheBoxingTribune.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: boxing, civilian, Eddie Goldman, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, No Holds Barred, PBC, police, shooting, WAR

(Photo of Wilder and Arreola by Chris Baldwin)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Chris Arreola, who fight Saturday, July 16, at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) had been scheduled to face former WBA champion and current WBC number one contender Alexander Povetkin on May 21 in Russia, but that fight was put on hold by the World Boxing Council (WBC) after Povetkin tested positive in April for the banned substance meldonium. Since then, the World Anti-Doping Agency has changed its guidelines regarding suspensions for meldonium, but the test was conducted by VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, working with the WBC as part of the Clean Boxing Program. A final disposition of this case by the WBC is expected soon.

Since the Wilder-Povetkin fight was put off, to be cancelled or postponed to some time in the future, Wilder took what is essentially a stay-busy fight with the former title challenger Arreola (36-4-1, 2 NDs, 31 KOs). While still a popular fighter, however, Arreola has won just two of his last six fights, with his most recent fight, a controversial win over Travis Kauffman in December, being changed to a "no decision" after Arreola tested positive for marijuana. Many people -- including Arreola himself -- believe that he does not deserve another title shot, so this fight will be under especially heavy scrutiny.

For this fight, VADA will once again conduct the anti-doping testing as part of the WBC's Clean Boxing Program.

The Wilder-Arreola fight headlines a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card which will be shown live in the U.S. on Fox and Fox Deportes, and in the U.K. on Sky Sports.

We spoke with Deontay Wilder and Chris Arreola on a media conference call this past Wednesday, and also got comments from promoter Lou DiBella about the urgent need for uniform drug testing. Many expect an explosive start to this fight, however long it lasts, and we got both fighters' comments on that.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to TheBoxingTribune.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

Labels: boxing, Chris Arreola, Deontay Wilder, doping, Eddie Goldman, Lou DiBella, No Holds Barred, PBC, VADA

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Steve Koepfer, the owner and head coach of New York Combat Sambo.

Among the many types of events in which he is involved is combat wrestling. He also serves as the Secretary General of USA Combat Wrestling.

USA Combat Wrestling is the official governing body for combat wrestling in the U.S. and the U.S. delegate of the International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW).

We spoke with Steve Koepfer at New York Combat Sambo Tuesday.

While tournaments were held in Japan in combat wrestling as a form of submission wrestling in the 1990s, run by its founder, Mr. Noriaki Kiguchi, it was only in 2013 that the FICW was created.

In just two short years of fully operating, FICW has held one world championship last year and is preparing for its second world championship October 15-16 in Tamasi, Hungary. There are a growing number of national federations in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia.

Plus, following the accepted norms for good governance for international sports federations, FICW is a nonprofit organization.

USA Combat Wrestling is also a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. "We're very transparent. All our finances are transparent," he said. "People can look us up."

In fact, he also noted that this nonprofit status has proved to be key for USA Combat Wrestling to gain sponsors. This year the trips of all members of the USA Combat Wrestling 2016 National Men's Team to the 2016 world championships will be paid for by sponsors, with these sponsors thus receiving a tax break.

Thus both internationally and in the U.S., combat wrestling has made remarkable progress in a relatively short period of time.

"Look what we've done in two years of combat wrestling," he said. "When you have a group of like-minded people who will actually do what they're going to do and make sacrifice and agree that, hey, I don't have to be the top dog in this organization. I can be the secretary and not the president of USA Combat Wrestling, and in fact I don't have to be on the board of FICW. I don't care about that. I just want to see the sport grow."

The USA Combat Wrestling 2016 National Men's Team includes:

62 kg - Tim Setala (American Top Team, Savage, MN)

68 kg - Craig Chiles (Katame-do Jiu JItsu/UFC GYM/Gracie Humaita, St. Charles, MO)

74 kg - Mitchell Hall (Westside MMA, Little Rock, AR)

82 kg - Aaron Butler (Westside MMA, Little Rock, AR)

90 kg - Niko Koliastasis (Championship MMA, Fort Smith, AR)

100 kg - Anthony Pastorello (Legion X Grappling, Colorado Springs, CO)

The Master's Team includes:

74 kg - Stephan Goyne (Bay JiuJitsu/RDojo, CA)

82 kg - Cody Clayton (Quincy, CA)

We also discussed in depth the rules of combat wrestling, where matches are won by submission or points, including points for a pin; the Combat Wrestling Canada Open, which takes place this Saturday, July 9, at the College Notre Dame in Montreal, Quebec; what the disparate and scattered catch wrestling organizations can learn from combat wrestling; how the growth of jiu-jitsu in recent decades has helped the development of many other grappling and wrestling styles and rulesets, including combat wrestling; plans for more tournaments to be held; and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to TheBoxingTribune.com.

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

Labels: combat wrestling, Eddie Goldman, FICW, International Federation, No Holds Barred, nonprofit, Steve Koepfer, USA