NO HOLDS BARRED

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Just a day after Fury posted a video confirming that he had agreed to fight Joshua for the undisputed world heavyweight championship on August 14 in Saudi Arabia, news broke that appeared to prevent that fight from occurring, at least for now. An arbitrator ruled that a clause in the contract for Fury's last fight against Wilder, won by Fury in February 2020, mandating yet another match between these two, was indeed still valid. Fury and Wilder had also fought to a controversial split draw in December 2018 in a fight most observers felt Fury had won. Wilder had demanded the arbitration after a deal for a third fight between Fury and him had not been reached. Fury's co-promoter, Bob Arum, had told Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, that he was certain that his side would win in the arbitration hearing since they claimed that the rematch clause had expired, but the arbitrator ruled otherwise. As this was binding arbitration agreed upon by both sides, the only choices for Fury's side were to immediately arrange a third fight with Wilder, or to try to get him to accept step-aside money to allow the Fury-Joshua fight to proceed, something both Fury's and Wilder's camps said would not happen.

We discussed what this now means for the heavyweight division, what are the likeliest next fights for each fighter, how Hearn's apparent acceptance of Arum's assurances of what the arbitrator would rule sank the plans for the Fury-Joshua fight for this summer, and much more. We spoke on Thursday afternoon, May 20, 2021.

A subscription is required to listen this show, so subscribe today to support independent journalism on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.

The video of our discussion will also be posted on Angry Afro Radio.

On May 16, Tyson Fury posted a short video confirming that he has agreed to fight Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world on August 14 in Saudi Arabia. While some details remain to be finalized, it now appears that it is very likely that this fight will proceed and be officially announced shortly.

We discussed what this means for the heavyweight division, what could possibly go wrong with this fight, why undisputed world championships usually don't last long in boxing, some of the problems that may have been holding up the completion of these negotiations, political problems that may occur including opposition to this fight taking place in a country with such an abysmal human rights record, and much more.

In addition, we discussed the major fights that took place this weekend, including the significance of Brandon Figueroa's seventh-round knockout of Luis Nery in their super bantamweight title unification fight, the bizarre circumstances around the heavyweight "title" fight between Mahmoud "Manuel" Charr and Christopher Lovejoy, and much more.

A subscription is required to listen to the complete episode of this show, so subscribe today to support independent journalism on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.

The video of our discussion will also be posted on Angry Afro Radio.

(Photo of Nery vs. Figueroa by Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions. Screenshot of Tyson Fury from his social media video.)

We spoke with her by phone Sunday, May 9.

On Saturday, May 8, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez stopped Billy Joe Saunders with an eighth-round TKO in front of a reported 73,000+ fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Canelo displayed devastating power to defeat the previously unbeaten Saunders and cause multiple fractures to his orbital bone, necessitating surgery. With this win, the immensely popular Canelo, who already held two of the four major super middleweight belts, captured his third and cemented his status as the consensus top pound-for-pound fighter.

We discussed controversies emerging from this fight, including how the fight was progressing at the time of the stoppage, why it was correct for Saunders's corner to stop the fight when they did, why Saunders did not quit, how the view of some in boxing that fighters must "go out on their shields" is barbaric and antiquated, what might be next for Canelo in his quest to capture all four major super middleweight belts, and much more.

This past week also saw major developments in the fight to cancel the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to begin July 23. A highlight was the posting of a petition in both Japanese and English, started by Japanese lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya, entitled "Cancel the Tokyo Olympics to protect our lives".

With much of Japan, including Tokyo, under its third state of emergency since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as of Sunday, May 9, this petition has gotten well over 300,000 signatures, a record pace.

The petition notes that "as numbers show, the widespread outbreak of COVID19 has not at all been under control. While vaccination started at the end of last year, its distribution is limited to economically developed countries and thus the pandemic is far from over."

Japan is currently in its fourth wave of the pandemic. Coronavirus infections have been rising of late, including a record number of severely ill patients with severe symptoms due to the spread of more contagious variants. There has also been a very slow rollout of the vaccine in Japan. Dr. Kentaro Iwata, a physician, professor, and infectious diseases expert at Kobe University, was quoted as saying that "even thinking about the Olympics is just ridiculous" while he

lth workers in Japan's over-burdened medical system "are really fighting a life-and-death situation." We discussed the growing international opposition to the Tokyo Olympics, how this is a defining moment for sports activism, how the IOC oligarchs' plans endanger the health of both the people of Japan and the Olympic athletes, how the athletes will be screwed by the IOC's machinations whether the Tokyo Olympics go on or not, how plans to vaccinate Olympic athletes ahead of the elderly and ill in countries with limited or no access to vaccines is unjust and unfair, why athletes should plan their careers outside the failing and corrupt Olympic movement, and much more.

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(Photo of Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders by Matchroom Boxing.)

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