NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the victory by Errol Spence Jr. this past Saturday, May 27, over Kell Brook to capture the IBF welterweight belt and vault himself to the top tier of the welterweight division.

In what started as a close and competitive fight, the end came at 1:47 of the 11th round, when a battered Brook took a knee and indicated to the referee that he could no longer see well enough to continue because of an injury to his left eye.

This fight took place in front of 27,000 fans at the Bramall Lane football ground in Sheffield, U.K., and was shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and live in the U.S. on Showtime.

The 27-year-old Spence, now 22-0 with 19 KOs, faces a bright future. But for the 31-year-old Brook, now 31-2 with 25 KOs, what does the future hold?

Brook has now lost his last two fights, the only two losses of his professional career. After fighting at middleweight last year against the unbeaten slugger Gennady Golovkin, he had to have surgery to repair his right eye socket, with a metal plate being inserted into his face. Now he has lost again due to an eye injury, this time to his left eye, and will face surgery and all the uncertainties that accompany it once again. So what will, or should, happen after taking a knee to end his fight with Spence?

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime.)

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 sponsored by:

The 2017 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Saturday, July 15, 2017, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance (CWA) and co-sponsored by City of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, Sprout Living (official protein powder of the CWA), and Ultima Replenisher (official electrolyte drink of the CWA), the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, Errol Spence Jr., Kell Brook, knee, No Holds Barred

Here are the raw ratings for Saturday's boxing shows on U.S. TV.

The HBO telecast of Crawford-Diaz averaged 961,000. The Showtime telecast of Russell-Escandon averaged 481,000. The PBC on FS1 telecast of Benavidez-Medina (my fight of the night), on at the same time as HBO's boxing, averaged 364,000.


Top 150 Original Cable Telecasts: Saturday May 20, 2017 P18-49 P2+

Rank Program Net Start Mins Rating (000s)

9 WCB: 5/20/17 CRAWFORD/DIA HBO PRIME 11:01 PM 39 0.37 961

13 WCB: 5/20/17 CRAWFORD/DIA HBO PRIME 11:40 PM 13 0.31 767

14 WCB: 5/20/17 CRAWFORD/DIA HBO PRIME 10:31 PM 30 0.31 760

83 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 8:51 PM 29 0.13 481

93 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 7:56 PM 43 0.11 354

94 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 8:39 PM 12 0.11 377

108 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 7:45 PM 11 0.10 284

110 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 9:20 PM 15 0.09 319

115 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 6:53 PM 52 0.09 267

133 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 6:14 PM 15 0.07 228

141 PREMIER BOXING CHAMPION L: DAVID BENAVIDEZ/ROGELIO MEDINA FOX SPORTS 1 10:00 PM 127 0.07 364

146 SHO CH BOX: 2017 SHOWTIME PRIME 6:29 PM 24 0.07 206

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-saturday-cable-originals-network-finals-5-20-2017.html

(Photo of David Benavidez and Rogelio Medina, credit Edgar Ramos / Premier Boxing Champions.)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook and unbeaten challenger Errol Spence Jr., who fight this Saturday, May 27. We also comment on this past Saturday's full day of fights, and why the David Benavidez-Rogelio "Porky" Medina fight deserved the honor of being known as the televised fight of the night.

Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) and Spence (21-0, 18 KOs) face each other in the main event of a card at the Bramall Lane football stadium in Sheffield, U.K., which will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and live in the U.S. on Showtime. The winner will likely be regarded as the top fighter in the talent-rich welterweight division.

We spoke with both Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr. on a recent media conference call, in which they both promised victory.

This past Saturday, May 20, there were several important fights around the world. Gervonta Davis, Gary Russell Jr., and the masterful Terence Crawford all had dominating performances to retain their respective belts. There was also a disgraceful robbery, in which Rances Barthelemy was given a gift and undeserved decision win over Kiryl Relikh, and a riot in and outside the ring following Jose Uzcategui's disqualification loss against Andre Dirrell after he hit him after the bell sounded in the eighth round and Dirrell could not continue.

The high point of the night took place in the main event of a PBC card on FS1 which many may have passed up hoping that for a change HBO, which had its telecast on at the same time, would present something noteworthy.

The PBC on FS1 card was headlined by what turned out to be an eight-round, non-stop battle between budding star, the 20-year-old David Benadivez, and veteran Rogelio "Porky" Medina, who many remember last year gave IBF super middleweight champ James DeGale all he could handle. For Benavidez, this was his toughest opponent yet, and in what was billed as a 168-pound title eliminator, he established himself as both a legitimate contender and a must-see fighter.

We discussed why the Benavidez-Medina fight was fight of the night, the need for this fight to be replayed both on TV and online, the need for PBC to set up its own online video service showing full fights, how HBO and his promoters have completely botched the marketing and promotion of Terence Crawford, and much more.

(Photo of Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr., credit Lawrence Lustig, Matchroom Boxing. Photo of David Benavidez and Rogelio Medina, credit Edgar Ramos / Premier Boxing Champions.)

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 sponsored by:

The 2017 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Saturday, July 15, 2017, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance (CWA) and co-sponsored by City of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, Sprout Living (official protein powder of the CWA), and Ultima Replenisher (official electrolyte drink of the CWA), the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: boxing, David Benavidez, Eddie Goldman, Errol Spence Jr., Kell Brook, No Holds Barred, PBC, Rogelio Porky Medina, TV

Here are some of my so-so photos from the Malcolm X 92nd birthday celebration at Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, May 19, 2017, New York. Hopefully more people will have more and better ones.

All-women's jazz group!

Rep. Yvette Clarke.

Robert Jackson.

African drums.



Journalist Les Payne, who is writing a real biography of Malcolm X.

Robert Jackson, Malaak Shabazz, Yvette Clarke.

Malaak Shabazz, Les Payne.

Eddie and Malaak Shabazz.

Labels: 92, birthday, Malcolm X

From Aug. 2016 in honor of the 92nd anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X on May 19 -

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA legend Renzo Gracie, and human right activist Malaak Shabazz, who is the youngest daughter of Malcolm X.

We spoke with them Wednesday at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. We spoke with them before the announcement Saturday that Renzo Gracie would face Matt Hughes in a superfight at the upcoming ADCC World Championship on September 22-24, 2017, in the Espoo Metro Areena, Helsinki, Finland.

We began discussing with Renzo MMA in Asia, including his classic Pride fight with Sakuraba in 2000, as well as the more recent growth of Rizin and ONE Championship. He noted that these are all "amazing Asian events." We also talked about Tuesday's MMA Symposium at Columbia University.

A few minutes into the discussion, Malaak joined us. She discussed her recent trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and what she saw in the favelas.

She also has known Renzo for a long time, and vowed to return to training.

"Even though I had a leg injury, I am still a grappler," she said.

We discussed her father's support for training in martial arts, and how she and her five sisters had to have training in martial arts and piano.

Malcolm X's advocacy of martial arts training saw it as a component part of the freedom struggle for human rights.

As Renzo pointed out, "You can't demand freedom without knowing how to fight. And he knew that. He was a fighter before anything else."

We also discussed how what Malcolm X advocated was training in both striking and grappling, in other words, in what is today called mixed martial arts.

We also discussed how urban kids, both boys and girls, want and need more martial arts programs; the need for people in the combat sports to study sports management programs in college; plans for hosting more events; 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.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

Labels: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Eddie Goldman, grappling, Malaak Shabazz, Malcolm X, MMA, No Holds Barred, Renzo Gracie

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with unbeaten fighters Gervonta Davis and Liam Walsh, who face each other Saturday, May 20, and discussed the current situation regarding boxing on TV in the U.S.

Making the first defense of his IBF 130-pound belt, the 22-year-old Gervonta Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) hits the road to face 31-year-old British challenger Liam Walsh (21-0, 14 KOs) at London's Copper Box Arena, the site of the 2012 Olympic boxing. This fight will be shown live in the U.K. on BT Sport on BoxNation, and live in the U.S. on Showtime.

We spoke with both Gervonta Davis and Liam Walsh on their recent media conference call, in which both fighters confidently but respectfully predicted victory.

May 20 is a busy day for boxing, as BoxNation, Showtime, HBO, and the PBC on FS1 will also have more televised fights.

We discussed the ongoing decline of HBO's boxing program, the growth of Showtime's boxing program including its schedule of international fights such as Davis-Walsh, what might happen television-wise if there is a Joshua-Klitschko rematch, and 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 sponsored by:

The 2017 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Saturday, July 15, 2017, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance (CWA) and co-sponsored by City of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, Sprout Living (official protein powder of the CWA), and Ultima Replenisher (official electrolyte drink of the CWA), the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, Gervonta Davis, Liam Walsh, No Holds Barred, TV

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell.

We spoke with him in New York Wednesday at a book party for a new book in which he is one of the featured writers, The Bittersweet Science.

His contribution is an essay called "Why I Fixed Fights", and that is the topic we discussed.

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 sponsored by:

The 2017 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Saturday, July 15, 2017, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance (CWA) and co-sponsored by City of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, Sprout Living (official protein powder of the CWA), and Ultima Replenisher (official electrolyte drink of the CWA), the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: boxing, Carles Farrell, Eddie Goldman, fixed fights, No Holds Barred

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses Saturday's stinkers involving Joseph Parker vs. Raz Cojanu and Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Also discussed is the continuing tragedy involving Prichard Colon, who remains in a coma following a televised fight on October 17, 2015, and whose family has filed a $50 million lawsuit stemming from his treatment during and after that fight. We also examine, in light of boxing's ongoing history of purposeful mismatches and tragedies, why many people still follow it.

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 sponsored by:

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

by Eddie Goldman

Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua does not want to be mentioned alongside the likes of Muhammad Ali.

"Can I ever see a time that it will be Ali, Foreman, Holmes, Joshua? Nah," the 27-year-old heavyweight champ reportedly said.

"There are too many opinions now. They didn't give Klitschko the respect he deserves, you know what I mean. I just try and keep some distance from it and stay in my own lane," he went on.

"As long as I'm happy, that's what matters. I'm not perfect but what I do, I do good. I'll keep improving on it and if that's good enough to get me through in boxing, then I'll be satisfied. I know I can get better."

Despite his most modest self-assessment, there are many of us who argue that he is precisely suited to become potentially as big as was The Greatest.

Back on January of this year, in what now seems like a different and earlier era in boxing, you just didn't hear comparisons of Anthony Joshua and Muhammad Ali. At the January 31 Joshua-Klitschko news conference in New York hyping their April 29 bout, when I told Gareth Davies of the UK's Telegraph that Joshua had the potential to become as popular as Ali, this view ended up exploding onto headlines in the British and Irish media.

Now, after Joshua's momentous and historic 11th round TKO victory over Klitschko this past Saturday before 90,000 fans in London's Wembley Stadium, such comparisons are flooding the general sports and sports business media.

Yes, visions of this fight may still be sharp in many people's minds and the emotions it evoked may still be powerful just days after it made its way into boxing, sports, and cultural history. But that does not mean that these comparisons, and the projection that Joshua could become the next Ali, are simply infatuations which will fade in less giddy times.

Nicely juxtaposed photos of Joshua standing over a downed Klitschko alongside Ali standing over a downed Sonny Liston in similar poses have been plastered all over the British media.

No less than the business publication SportsBusiness Daily, whose audience is far different from that of the British tabloids which promise secret shots of naked celebrities, ran a piece called Anthony Joshua Drawing Comparisons To Muhammad Ali.

Sure, Joshua is only 19-0 with 19 knockouts, with a growing queue of undefeated fighters vying to fight him, including Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury, Joseph Parker, and Luis Ortiz. But do you know what Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, did in his 19th fight? After being knocked down in the fourth round, he stopped Henry Cooper in the fifth -- before 35,000 people in Wembley Stadium. The more noteworthy, and still controversial, fights with then-heavyweight champion Sonny Liston were fights numbers 20 and 21 in Ali's career.

Of course, besides his years of heroics in the ring, Ali was both adored and hated for what he did outside the ring. (At a media event in 2002 to publicize a one-off Ali magazine, before a crowd of New York boxing and media types I asked Ali which he was proudest of, his accomplishments in the ring or outside the ring. To the amazement of almost everyone except me, he said, in what was left of his voice, "outside the ring.")

Ali's conviction for his refusal to be drafted into the US Army on the grounds that he was a conscientious objector on religious grounds, later overturned by the US Supreme Court, and his stern denunciation of American aggression in Vietnam as racist, led him, then with a record of 29-0, to be stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from boxing by the devils who control it. Almost all the mainstream writers of this supposed classic era of sportswriting condemned him and even refused to call him by his chosen name, Muhammad Ali, with the most notable exception in the mainstream media being Howard Cosell.

He also proudly and loudly trumpeted the Black separatist line of the Nation of Islam he believed at that time, and even broke ties with his mentor Malcolm X, whom many believe was assassinated in a plot concocted with the cooperation and/or participation of Nation of Islam leadership. Ali did later admit regret for his break with Malcolm and apologize to Malcolm's family, and the most moving speaker at Ali's 2016 funeral was the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, Attallah Shabazz.

While Ali's political views clearly moderated after he broke with the Nation of Islam and became a more traditional Sunni Muslim, and culturally he was more or less mainstreamed, he remains an icon for those struggling against war, oppression, exploitation, and discrimination around the world.

What do we know of Anthony Joshua's political beliefs? Not much, publicly at least. What he thinks of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, or Trump, Le Pen, Macron, Putin, Assad, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-un, or the 2015 elections in Nigeria, has not been publicized. Where he stands on Brexit, refugees, and LGBT rights is also not publicly known.

But we do know that he is trying to be, whether he calls it that or not, a humanist.

Shortly after defeating American Charles Martin in April 2016 to win the IBF heavyweight belt, his first major world title, Joshua was interviewed by Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba at the 2016 Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin. In that video, which has recently gone viral, Joshua, with a laugh, said "the secret of the success" was that he eats the popular Nigerian dishes of eba, pounded yam, and egusi soup.

But more seriously he addressed the issue of his nationality. His mother, Yeta Odusanya (with whom he still lives), is from Nigeria, and his father, Robert, is of Nigerian and Irish descent. He was born in Watford in the UK, but spent part of his youth in Nigeria.

Asked whether he considers his nationality Nigerian or British and "Where does your heart lie?" his response was this:

"We're citizens of the world. All this political stuff where this is British, this is Nigerian, this is -- we're citizens of the world. That's the most important thing. But my heart is with Nigeria, my heart is with Britain. I'm a Nigerian man by blood, yes."

Joshua the internationalist is already a worldwide attraction for boxing and sports fans viewing his fights in many parts of the planet. The Joshua-Klitschko fight was reportedly screened in 140 countries.

According to numerous media reports, promoter Eddie Hearn has already claimed that this fight has shattered the UK record for pay-per-view buys, with numbers still coming in. In Germany, where it was aired it on the RTL network and not pay-per-view, the fight had an average viewership of 10.43 million people. In Poland, where it aired on Polsat Sport, the average viewership was 920,000. It also aired in Russia on Match TV, with no figures available at this time.

In the US, which is becoming more and more a backwater of boxing, the premium cable networks Showtime, which has a deal with Joshua, and HBO, which has a deal with Klitschko, wrangled for months over how to share the TV rights for this fight. They only announced their arrangement less than two weeks before the fight itself, with Showtime airing it live, meaning in the afternoon in the US, and HBO showing a replay that night. Even with all the delays which no doubt handcuffed the proper marketing of this fight in the US, both telecasts drew impressive numbers.

The live Showtime telecast averaged 659,000, and peaked at 763,000, amazing numbers for a fight outside the US that started at about 5 PM EDT/ 2 PM PDT.

One might think that viewership would be hurt for the HBO replay because the results, recaps, analyses, and even YouTube videos could be easily found by anyone who has ever seen the letters "http". Nevertheless, the replay averaged 738,000 viewers on HBO and peaked at 890,000 - making it higher than any of HBO's live boxing shows this year.

Just imagine the number of viewers in the US if the TV suits had put it live on the free CBS broadcast network instead of on premium cable on Showtime. On CBS at the time of the fight was a live broadcast of golf (lol), whose organizers booked the time months in advance, unlike the boxing promoters whose anarchic system requires a separate deal for every fight. This golf showing got 1.5 million viewers, surely far fewer than a well-publicized live broadcast of this fight would have received.

Now Anthony Joshua is in demand all over the world. He reportedly turned down an offer to do a blitz of appearances on American TV talk shows this week, preferring to stay in the UK with his family and friends, and also prepare for some public appearances there.

The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that he will soon invite Anthony Joshua to Nigeria.

Anthony Joshua is indeed a citizen of the world, as was Muhammad Ali, and his reign as the universally regarded top heavyweight in the world is just starting. But unlike Ali, his ascendance to an iconic status like him will not be as dependent on him being recognized as such as widely in America. "America First" hysteria may work for Trump voters, but not in world boxing.

Back at that January 31 news conference, I asked Joshua how he was handling all the hoopla around him and talk about him being the future of boxing. He replied by summing up his situation, matter-of-factly:

"I think it's just going to come with the territory, provided I keep on winning. If I'm getting banged down in my next five fights, we don't hear this talk anymore. So I think, right now I'm winning. This is what we'll continue to hear. Boxing is all based on winning. Boxing is based on winning. It's not as if, 'Oh, he lost three fights. That's good, and ....' Nah. It's based on winning. If I'm winning, we'll talk about unification. We'll talk about Vegas. If I'm not winning, the next man comes up and takes that position."

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Muhammad Ali