Sunday, March 27, 2022
"A Sad Day For Wrestling" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "A Sad Day For Wrestling", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
A subscription is required to read it, so subscribe today to support independent journalism.
The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/sad-day-for-64325377.
Labels: Eddie Goldman, Gable Steveson, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Superman, wrestling, WWE
Saturday, March 26, 2022
No Holds Barred: The Lesbian Fight Club, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, March 21.
Our guest was Marna Deitch. We discussed both the Lesbian Fight Club and boxing.
The Lesbian Fight Club, which is not just open to lesbians, and which trains people in self-defense techniques. As the LGBTQI community remains under attack, it is critically important to learn self-defense.
Marna Deitch is the founder of the Motorcycle Contingent for Equality, an award-winning activist, a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board of West Hollywood, and an executive board member of The L-Project, an art and tech 501(c)(3) organization promoting emerging LGBTQI women and non-binary creatives.
We also discussed the award-winning film, "Catch The Fair One", written by and starring boxer Kali Reis. And we discussed recent news about the Russian energy company, Gazprom, its sponsorship relationship with the IBA, and why amateur boxing may be dropped as an Olympic sport in the near future.
Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.
You can play or download No Holds Barred on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive. If one link does not work, please try another.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Lesbian Fight Club, Malissa Smith, Marna Deitch, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Friday, March 18, 2022
No Holds Barred: Russia, Ukraine, the Olympics, Kinahan, and Corruption, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, March 14.
Our wide-ranging discussion first focused on the continuing role of Russia in world sport, including in professional and Olympic boxing, even as Russia's war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine intensify. We discussed revelations that Umar Kremlev, president of the Olympic boxing federation IBA, has a history of ties with the Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves. Since 2014, the Night Wolves have been been under sanction by the the U.S. Treasury Department: "The Night Wolves have been closely connected to the Russian special services, have helped to recruit separatist fighters for Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine, and were deployed to the cities of Luhansk and Kharkiv." The IBA also has kept Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy company, as a "general partner". And in professional boxing, Russian fighters like Dmitry Bivol still get major fights, despite worldwide boycotts against Russian sports organizations and athletes because of Putin's criminal war of aggression against Ukraine.
We also discussed the increasingly prominent role of Daniel Kinahan, the alleged Irish head of an international drug cartel, in boxing. While the Irish media has been exemplary in exposing Kinahan, most of the world boxing media either remains silent about him or tries to cover up his real role. Kinahan is holed up in Dubai, which has not yet extradited him to Ireland. But Dubai is now hosting more and more major fights.
Also, we discussed how all this corruption means that there is no longer a basis for fair, all-inclusive world sport, and that the Olympic movement, which is collapsing, needs to be replaced. We discussed the role of gambling in boxing, sportswashing, how boxing is becoming so expensive to watch that it has become a luxury sport, and much more.
Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.
You can play or download No Holds Barred on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive. If one link does not work, please try another.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Daniel Kinahan, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, Ukraine, Umar Kremlev, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
"Pay-Per-View Is Bad For Boxing" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "Pay-Per-View Is Bad For Boxing", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
A subscription is required to read it, so subscribe today to support independent journalism.
The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/pay-per-view-is-63853126.
Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view, ppv
Saturday, March 05, 2022
"No Holds Barred Is Sweet Sixteen" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
A subscription is required to read it, so subscribe today to support independent journalism.
The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/no-holds-barred-63399627.
Labels: Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, sweet sixteen
Thursday, March 03, 2022
No Holds Barred: We Stand With Ukraine, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Sunday, February 27.
We discussed the need for a ban on Russia from world sports after Putin violated the Olympic Truce agreement and attacked Ukraine.
This is the third time since 2008 that Russia has violated the Olympic Truce and launched military attacks. Russia and its proxies attacked the country of Georgia in 2008 at the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics. Russia attacked Ukraine and annexed Crimea during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Now mere hours after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics had concluded, Russia launched its vicious and illegal land, sea, and air assault on Ukraine.
A ban on Russia may mark the end of the era of all-inclusive world sporting events. But the price for continuing to include Russia and its gang of cheats, dopers, and murderers in world sport is the complete abandonment of any principles associated with real sport. And such inherently corrupt sports organizations do not deserve to exist. The sustainability of an Olympic movement including both democratic and authoritarian countries, where human rights do not exist, has long been questioned as well.
Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.
You can play or download No Holds Barred on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive. If one link does not work, please try another.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, Ukraine, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
No Holds Barred: A Bit of Women's Boxing History, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Sunday, February 13.
In every generation, there are big super fights, to be made for men and women in the sport. There was the fight between Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde as the main event on a pay-per-view card on June 8, 2001, in a big tent erected at the Turning Stone Casino outside of Canastota, New York.
While Bob Arum, yes, that Bob Arum, did not have a particular hand in that fight, he did try to promote the "Million Dollar Lady" super-fight between Christy Martin and Lucia Rijker in 2005. This wad meant to capitalize on Clint Eastwood's Oscar winning film, "Million Dollar Baby" starring Hilary Swank. Martin and Rijker were to have been guaranteed a $250,000 purse a piece. They were also both past the prime of their careers, but there'd been a rivalry that began to brew in the late-1990s, and it was the fight fans wanted to see, perhaps only eclipsed by the dream of pairing Laila Ali and Ann Wolfe.
In the end, Rijker had to pull out of the fight due to a torn achilles tendon, which turned out to be career ending. Ever the "champion" for women's boxing -- not -- Bob Arum was less than stellar about Rijker's injury, having done a lousy job of promoting the fight in the first place and seeming to blame the women for what was reported to be anemic ticket sales.
Arum's early forays in women's boxing extend all the way back to the late 1970s. He felt very burned by the experience, and in 1987 went on record to state that women's boxing is "ridiculous," and how he'd sworn that he'd never promote another women's bout.
He did go on to promote women's boxing champion Lucia Rijker in the late 1990s, and a few years later, Mia St. John. A martial artist, St. John's trademark was "hot pink" to distinguish herself from Christy Martin's baby pink. She gained popularity fighting on Oscar De La Hoya fight cards on pay-per-view in the early 2000s.
And of course, fast forward to 2022, and Bob Arum is still at it denigrating female prize fighters while promoting yet another champion female boxer.
The Taylor-Serrano main event super fight on April 30, 2022, in the main room at Madison Square Garden, demonstrates just how far the sport has come in terms of popularity and respect. It is, however, only the beginning. Bob Arum's open disdain for female achievements in the sport may be treated as being anachronistic, but the truth is he is not alone in his thinking. One need only look at the fight cards on mainstream boxing media in the United States, to see how much further there is to go.
Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.
You can play or download No Holds Barred on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive. If one link does not work, please try another.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: Chris Baldwin, Christy Martin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Laila Ali, Lucia Rijker, Malissa Smith, Mia St. John, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports, women's boxing
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
Defend Ukraine! Why I'm Resigning from the National Writers Union
My latest piece, "Ban Russia From World Sport", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
This article is free to read, but please subscribe today to support independent journalism.
Labels: Eddie Goldman, National Writers Union, No Holds Barred, NWU, Russia, Ukraine
