<$BlogRSDURL$>


Friday, September 22, 2017

No Holds Barred: Wilder-Ortiz, Golovkin-Canelo, and the Business of Boxing 


On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the Nov. 4 heavyweight title fight between WBC champ Deontay Wilder and Luis "King Kong" Ortiz, the controversial draw in the Gennady "GGG" Golovkin-Saul "Canelo" Alvarez fight, and what these all say about the business of boxing and its history of trickeration.

(Photo of Golovkin and Canelo courtesy of HBO/Ed Mulholland.)

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. 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: , , , , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

Friday, September 15, 2017

No Holds Barred: Angela Lee, Ben Askren, Shinya Aoki, Mei Yamaguchi, Chatri Sityodtong, ONE Championship Conference Call 


On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the September 14 international media conference call hosted by ONE Championship.

This call was to publicize their return to their home base of Singapore with a major show called ONE: Immortal Pursuit.

On the call were:

Angela Lee - ONE Women's Atomweight World Champion

Mei Yamaguchi - ONE world title challenger

Ben Askren - ONE Welterweight World Champion

Shinya Aoki - Former ONE Lightweight World Champion

Chatri Sityodtong​ - ​Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship

ONE: Immortal Pursuit will feature these four fighters in title bouts.

Last year the undefeated Angela Lee won a close but unanimous decision over Mei Yamaguchi to capture the first-ever ONE women's atomweight title. This was the only fight in which Angela Lee had not stopped her opponent. Now the rematch is set for this card, and is the third defense of her belt.

In what he has said will be his retirement fight, the undefeated Ben Askren will take on submission specialist and former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki in a welterweight title fight.

All the fighters discussed their careers and their approach to their fights. In addition, Chatri Sityodtong discussed the continued growth of ONE Championship and their plans for the future.

ONE: Immortal Pursuit takes place Friday, November 24, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. More details about this show are expected to be announced shortly.

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. 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: , , , , , , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Golovkin-Canelo - Trickeration or Treat? 


by Eddie Goldman

You won't find me regularly offering public predictions about major fights. It is not that I am fearful of being wrong, since on the occasions when I am wrong, I'm mostly upset at myself, as contradictory as that may sound. The reason is that I am already heavily involved in all sorts of controversies about corruption, excessive dangers, bad governance, etc., in the combat sports, and I'd prefer not to have those issues clouded by battles over who will win legit fights.

There are exceptions, of course, so when I was asked to make a prediction for the Santa Cruz-Frampton 2 fight for the official program, I complied. And I have done so once again for the Golovkin-Canelo official program.

Right or wrong, here again (I've already discussed this on No Holds Barred) is that prediction:

The obviously important fight between Gennady "GGG" Golovkin and Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez should also be an entertaining battle. The larger Golovkin often starts slowly, finding his range and testing his opponent's power. That could allow Canelo to rack up some points early. As the fight progresses, however, Golovkin should be able to break and wear Canelo down, dominate the fight, and score a late stoppage, even if the scorecards make it seem closer than it actually was. Golovkin by late TKO.

There are several caveats, however. Canelo is likely to rack up points in the early rounds, as even Golovkin's trainer, Abel Sanchez, recently indicated in the prefight conference call. Golovkin notably started slowly to gather information in his last two fights, first against Kell Brook, whom he defeated by fifth-round TKO, and then against Danny Jacobs, whom he defeated by a somewhat controversial unanimous decision.

If, as I predicted, Golovkin is able to stop Canelo, the scorecards will become historical footnotes. I noted that he should "score a late stoppage, even if the scorecards make it seem closer than it actually was."

This is where boxing's trickeration comes in. And what, you may inquire, is trickeration? As far as I can tell, the term entered the unofficial vocabulary of American English in a 1931 song of that name written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and popularized by singer and entertainer Cab Calloway. The lyrics are:

Just follow me,
And you will see,
What folks in Harlem
Call Trickeration.

Don't mean a thing,
This crazy swing,
Latest thing in Harlem,
Trickeration!

Rhythm, look what you went and done,
Rhythm, you are the guilty one.

Another phrase,
Just another craze,
Everyone in Harlem
Does Trickeration.


The term received a new meaning years later in boxing, when it no longer meant that it "Don't mean a thing". The esteemed etymologist and linguist Don King frequently used the term to describe trickery in boxing, a phenomenon with which he was somehow quite familiar.

While the Golovkin-Canelo fight has all the markings of being a treat for fight fans, it also could be a target for trickeration.

If my prediction is incorrect, and Canelo manages to go the distance with Golovkin, will the scorecards reflect what happened in the fight? Suppose Canelo legit wins the first three rounds. If he wins just two of the next nine rounds, and does not get dropped, it should be 7-5 for Golovkin. That gives the judges a lot of wiggle room, even if there is a knockdown in the fight.

Canelo is by far the most popular and main revenue-producing fighter for Golden Boy Promotions. He is also HBO's last pay-per-view star.

Would any of this influence the judges assigned by the Sin City Athletic Commission? Would yet another controversial and disputed decision set the stage for a lucrative rematch or even trilogy to milk this rivalry for more than it is worth? Would fans not be put off by yet another disgraceful decision in a sport that makes corpses blush?

My concern is not trying to justify my prediction. If Canelo wins legitimately by knockout or decision, or if the fight is actually one of those which is too close to call or could have gone either way, so be it and fantastic.

Perhaps warning about the possibility of trickeration beforehand could prevent it. And perhaps that is mere naive and wishful thinking. So while it is still too early to think about Halloween, we shall see Saturday night whether or not we have an early trickeration or treat dilemma, and are played for suckers once again.

Labels: , , , , , ,


1 comments Tweet

Monday, September 11, 2017

Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev Meet the Media 



by Eddie Goldman

Only because I was already up and doing things -- a rarity for me on a Monday or any other morning -- I watched the live stream of the Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev press conference.

Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs), who turns 28 on October 15, defends his IBF and WBA heavyweight belts against the IBF mandatory Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs), who turns 37 on September 19. This fight takes place October 28 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, U.K., where this press conference also took place.

Basically it was quite a civil and non-eventful press conference. No chairs or tables were tossed, no punches were thrown, and the language was quite fit for both newspapers and TV.

They will no doubt fill the building, which hosts rugby, football, and other events, has a retractable roof, and has a maximum capacity of 74,500. They will also do well on the U.K. pay-per-view on Sky Sports Box Office, without the staged hysteria and theatrics typical of those combat sports events which imitate the sordid W"W"E.

There were a few interesting things, though. Promoter Eddie Hearn, in touting Pulev as a worthy challenger for Joshua, said, according to The Ring, whose nickname he noted as "The Bible of Boxing", Pulev was ranked as a heavyweight only behind Joshua and WBC champ Deontay Wilder. I didn't bother to check this propaganda sheet for Golden Boy, but if that is true, where do they rank former Golden Boy fighter and unbeaten WBA mandatory Luis "King Kong" Ortiz? If you aren't already a non-believer, or at least a boxing atheist, this should make you one.

Also, so far there is no official word on if or when Showtime, with whom Joshua is contracted, will show this in the U.S. A live telecast from Wales would mean it would start on Showtime in the U.S. in the afternoon, about 5 PM EDT. But as of now, the schedule for Showtime's main channel lists a marathon of their series "Shameless" for that time. Perhaps, since it is still Monday morning here, they are still asleep.

And if you must see it, although it apparently isn't on the Sky Sports Boxing web site, a video of this press conference is already on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/UAUOwnjeQ8M

Now it's time for me to catch up on watching last night's episodes of "The Orville", "Insecure", and "Ray Donovan".

Labels: , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

Saturday, September 09, 2017

Saturday Is For Real Boxing 



by Eddie Goldman

For those folks interested in real boxing who are fortunate enough to be spared from all this devastation and tragedy going on around the world, Saturday, September 9, is a busy day.

The World Boxing Super Series has its first card Saturday, featuring the current WBO cruiserweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, against a former champion, Marko Huck. This fight, the opening round of this event's eight-man cruiserweight tournament, takes place at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin.

While the World Boxing Super Series just recently signed TV deals with networks in several European countries, including Germany and Russia, this fight will not be televised live in the U.K. or at all in the U.S.

The U.S. will host one of the strongest cards of the year, however, as three major fights in the talented super flyweight division take place at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Headlining this card, which has been dubbed "SuperFly", will be a rematch of a March fight between Wisaksil Wangek AKA Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand and Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez of Nicaragua. In their first fight, Rungvisai won a controversial majority decision, handing Chocolatito his first loss and capturing his WBC belt. In a battle of two exciting Mexican fighters, former WBA 108-pound champion Juan Francisco Estrada will face Carlos Cuadras, with the winner likely getting a title shot at the Rungvisai-Chocolatito victor. This fight could also be a show stealer. And in his first fight outside his home country, the unbeaten 24-year-old phenom Naoya Inoue of Japan will defend his WBO belt against American Antonio Nieves.

The "SuperFly" card will be shown on HBO in the U.S., WOWOW in Japan, and Sky Sports in the U.K.

I have already discussed these cards and other topics more in depth, including the TV situation, here:

No Holds Barred: A Sweet But Dysfunctional September for Boxing

Joshua-Pulev, Golovkin-Canelo, World Boxing Super Series, Parker-Fury TV News

So please be safe, and watch as many of these fights as you can. And remember, Mens sana in corpore sano.

(Photo of Usyk and Huck from World Boxing Super Series. Photo of "SuperFly" final press conference from Tom Hogan, K2 Promotions.)

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

Friday, September 08, 2017

No Holds Barred: Kid Peligro on ADCC 2017 


On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague and correspondent Kid Peligro.

Our main topic was the 2017 ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Fighting World Championship, which will be held Saturday, September 23, and Sunday, September 24, at the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland.

It is the most important and prestigious grappling tournament in the world, and as always will feature competition in no-gi grappling.

There will be tournaments held featuring grapplers who either won in the many continental qualifying trials, or were former ADCC champions.

The men's weight classes are -66kg, -77kg, -88kg, -99kg, and +99kg, plus an Absolute division.

The women's weight classes are -60kg and +60kg.

Another highlight will be the Superfights.

In the main Superfight, multi-time ADCC champion Andre Galvao takes on Claudio Calasans.

There will also be two Stars Superfights featuring veteran competitors. In these, Renzo Gracie faces Sanae Kikuta and Leo Vieira faces Chael Sonnen.

The 2017 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship will be streamed live on FloGrappling.

We spoke with Kid Peligro by phone Thursday.

For this event, there is "a lot of anticipation. It's the number one event," he said, "most prestigious and best event in the world of this type."

He continued, "If you like submission grappling, jiu-jitsu, judo, wrestling, this is a really, really great event."

We discussed the favorites in each weight class and the Superfights, some of the history of upsets by then-little-known grapplers in ADCC events, how success in grappling does not always mean success in MMA and vice versa, 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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. 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.

0 comments Tweet

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Joshua-Pulev, Golovkin-Canelo, World Boxing Super Series, Parker-Fury TV News 






by Eddie Goldman

As a follow-up to my latest show, "No Holds Barred: A Sweet But Dysfunctional September for Boxing", which was posted early Monday, September 4, as anticipated there has been a flurry of announcements Tuesday, September 5. Most of these seem to be quite late in coming.

One of the worst kept secrets in boxing was that on Saturday, October 28, heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will defend his belts against his IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev. That fight has now been officially announced. Joshua had wanted to have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, whom he defeated on April 29 in a classic fight by 11th-round TKO, but the 41-year-old Klitschko decided to retire instead.

The Joshua-Pulev fight will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office. Joshua is also contracted to fight on Showtime in the U.S. There was no accompanying announcement about this, so we shall see if they show this fight, and either live or on tape-delay.

While the September 16 Golovkin-Canelo fight was long ago announced as being shown on HBO pay-per-view in the U.S., details of how to watch it in the U.K. on BoxNation have just come out.

From BoxNation:

"'Canelo' Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin on September 16th is exclusively live in the U.K. and Ireland on BoxNation Box Office from just £16.95/€21.95.

"BoxNation's current paying subscribers, and any new customers that wish to subscribe instead of buying it via Box Office, will get the fight as part of their monthly subscription at no extra cost."

The World Boxing Super Series has finally announced a U.K. TV deal, just four days before their first card takes place. These fights will be on ITV, both free-to-air and pay-per-view. But there still is no word on if they will get a TV deal in the U.S.

From the World Boxing Super Series press release:

"MP & Silva are delighted to announce a media rights agreement with ITV to showcase the inaugural 2017/18 season of the World Boxing Super Series starting September 9. ITV will exclusively cover 16 elite boxers competing across 14 different Fight Nights all over the world to see who will claim the Muhammad Ali Trophy.

"The Super Middleweight and Cruiserweight tournaments will be shown on a combination of ITV's free-to-air and pay-per-view platforms with the second Quarter-Final Fight Night featuring Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund from Liverpool's Echo Arena to be shown live on ITV4 on September 16.

"The World Boxing Super Series will be of more particular interest to the British audience this season with Chris Eubank Jr. fighting Turkish Avni Yildirim and the all British duel between George Groves and Jamie Cox at The SSE Arena, Wembley in October both being shown on ITV Box Office."

And in an announcement which already has earned the wrath of many fans online, the September 23 fight between WBO heavyweight champ Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury in Manchester, U.K., will be shown in the U.K. and Ireland as a YouTube pay-per-view. Again, there has been no announcement about showing this fight in the U.S.

From the Hennessy Sports press release:

"The blockbuster WBO World Heavyweight Championship title fight between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury on Saturday 23rd September at the Manchester Arena will be shown exclusively live in the UK and Ireland on YouTube (www.youtube.com/parkerfury) on a pay-per-view basis with further countries to be announced shortly.

"A portion of the undercard will also be streamed for free before the big fight, this is also available live on www.youtube.com/parkerfury. Watch this event anywhere online or on your smart TV, game console, PC, Mac, mobile, tablet and more for a special advance purchase offer price of only £9.99 in the UK and €11.99 in the Republic of Ireland until midnight on Sunday 17th September.*

"youtube.com/parkerfury is the home of Hennessy Sports YouTube Channel which is called The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports.

"*£14.99 in the UK and €16.99 in the R.O.I from Monday 18th September."

Overall this still seems like a pretty dysfunctional way to get fans to watch boxing. All this reliance on pay-per-view is far inferior to how most other major sports popularize their events through free TV and streaming.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

Monday, September 04, 2017

No Holds Barred: A Sweet But Dysfunctional September for Boxing 


On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the many important and anticipated fights scheduled for this September, including the September 16 Golovkin-Canelo showdown, the World Boxing Super Series tournaments at cruiserweight and super middleweight starting September 9, and the "SuperFly" card also on September 9 featuring three fights involving the top fighters in the 115-pound division. But also discussed are the problems surrounding the lack of wide TV coverage for these and many other fights, including the pitfalls of pay-per-view, the absence of U.S. and U.K. TV for the World Boxing Super Series, the poor marketing of the "SuperFly" card which should be one of the best this year, why boxing must be seen as a TV sport, and much more.

(Poster from WBC.)

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. 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: , , , , , , , ,


0 comments Tweet

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Links
  • Eddie Goldman Presented Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award -- The Conscience of Combat Sports
  • WAAR Sports
  • Girlboxing
  • Archives

    Subscribe to No Holds Barred
    Email:
    Browse Archives at groups.google.com

    © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Eddie Goldman all rights reserved.