NO HOLDS BARRED

My first piece for Hannibal Boxing is up:
The Long Con: Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner.

Labels: Adrien Broner, Eddie Goldman, Hannibal Boxing, Long Con, Manny Pacquiao, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses Saturday's Mikey Garcia-Adrien Broner fight, and how Mikey Garcia's lopsided unanimous decision victory, as well as the impressive TV ratings for this show, make it clear that he is a major star in boxing and a TV draw.

We also discuss why boxing must be primarily viewed as a TV sport, some of the history of how Mikey Garcia arrived at this point in his career, several of the other important fights held this past weekend, what should be next for Mikey Garcia, and much more.

(Photo of Mikey Garcia and Adrien Broner by Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment.)

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Labels: Adrien Broner, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Mikey Garcia, No Holds Barred, PBC, Showtime, star, 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, who is also co-editor of The Boxing Standard.

The return of boxing to network TV in the U.S. and the announcement that the long-awaited mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will take place May 2 have sparked much interest and discussion about the state of boxing.

Saturday's debut PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) on NBC show featured an exciting decision victory by Keith Thurman over Robert Guerrero and a not-so-exciting decision victory by Adrien Broner over John Molina Jr.

According to the Nielsen Ratings, the PBC on NBC telecast averaged 3.4 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched professional boxing broadcast in 17 years (Oscar De La Hoya’s Fight Night on FOX, 5.9 million, Mon., March 23, 1998). Viewership increased every half hour through the telecast and peaked at 4.2 million from 10:30-11 p.m. ET during the final six rounds of the Keith Thurman-Robert Guerrero fight. The PBC on NBC also led NBC to a Saturday primetime victory among adults 18-49, with a 1.08 rating in that demographic. Also, according to NBC Sports, more than 575,000 minutes (576,435) of PBC on NBC coverage was live streamed via NBC Sports Live Extra to desktops, tablets and mobile devices. The show thus has to be considered a ratings success.

We spoke with Charles Farrell by phone Sunday.

"I do think the idea of making competitive fights is a very good idea. I think star-building is a very good idea," he said.

"There's probably interest in trying to resurrect Adrien Broner. I dont think that that happened, and I think maybe they have to think about what to do with Adrien Broner at this point."

He continued, "But they probably did pretty well by Keith Thurman. And my guess is that people who were watching who were casual fans will be inclined to watch the next one. So you give it a passing grade, and I would say at this point we sort of have to wait and see."

As for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, where Mayweather puts his 47-0 record on the line, we discussed potential outcomes, including one possibility that the fight will end in a highly controversial and disputed decision, thus leading to much antipathy for boxing but also a highly lucrative rematch.

We also discussed the announcing and overall production of the debut PBC on NBC show, the need to present boxing "as boxing" on TV, the decision loss by Chinese fighter Zou Shiming to IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand in Macao in China, why boxing seems to rebound after each period of decline, and much, much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.

Labels: Adrien Broner, boxing, Charles Farrell, Eddie Goldman, Floyd Mayweather, John Molina, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao, NBC, No Holds Barred, PBC, Robert Guerrero

(Photo by Keisha Morrisey.)

No Holds Barred: Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Lamont Peterson, Roberto Duran, Lou DiBella, John Miller, PBC on NBC

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the interviews recorded at the inaugural news conference for the new Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series on NBC.

This news conference took place Wednesday, January 14, at NBC's studio 8H, the home of "Saturday Night Live", at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York. For this year, there will be 20 live "PBC on NBC" events. This will include five Saturday primetime shows on NBC, six Saturday afternoon shows on NBC, and nine Saturday primetime shows on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), with specific dates and times to be announced. In this Premier Boxing Champions venture, NBC is working with Haymon Boxing and its head, boxing manager Al Haymon.

We spoke with:

-- Keith Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs), who will face Robert Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs) on March 7.

-- Adrien Broner (29-1, 22 KOs), who will face John Molina Jr. (27-2, 22 KOs), also on March 7.

-- Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs), who will face Danny Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) on April 11.

-- Boxing legend Roberto Duran.

-- Promoter Lou DiBella, who will officially act as the promoter for several of these cards, about the potential for the "PBC on NBC" to elevate the status of boxing.

-- John Miller, the Chief Marketing Officer, NBC Sports Group, about some of the business aspects of the "PBC on NBC".

A photo gallery from this news conference can be seen here.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Payleg.com, which gives you the tools to develop a full-time income by building a home-based business. Teaching success in the home-based business industry since 1988, Payleg.com is available in 190 countries. For more information, go to Payleg.com.

Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.

Labels: Adrien Broner, Eddie Goldman, John Miller, Keith Thurman, Lamont Peterson, Lou DiBella, NBC. Al Haymon, No Holds Barred, PBC, Premier Boxing Champions, Roberto Duran

This news conference took place Wednesday, January 14, at NBC's studio 8H, the home of "Saturday Night Live", at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York.

Left to right: Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lamont Peterson, John Molina Jr., and Robert Guerrero.

Al Michaels video at news conference.

Sugar Ray Leonard.

Sugar Ray Leonard.

Lamont Jones, Vice President of Operations for Haymon Boxing Management.

Keith Thurman and Robert Guerrero.

Adrien Broner and John Molina Jr.

Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson.

Eddie Goldman, Keisha Morrisey, and Roberto Duran.

Eddie interviewing Roberto Duran with manager Luis DeCubas Jr. and Keisha Morrisey.

Eddie interviewing John Miller, Chief Marketing Officer, NBC Sports Group.

Eddie interviewing boxing promoter Lou DiBella.

Eddie interviewing Lamont Peterson.

Eddie interviewing Keith Thurman.

(Photos of fighters, Al Michaels, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lamont Jones, Keith Thurman and Robert Guerrero, Adrien Broner and John Molina Jr., and Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson by Eddie Goldman. The other photos are courtesy of Keisha Morrisey.)

Labels: Adrien Broner, Eddie Goldman, John Miller, Keisha Morrisey, Keith Thurman, Lamont Peterson, Lou DiBella, NBC. Al Haymon, No Holds Barred, PBC, Premier Boxing Champions, Roberto Duran

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the audio from the inaugural news conference for the new Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series on NBC.

This news conference took place Wednesday, January 14, at NBC's studio 8H, the home of "Saturday Night Live", at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York.

The return of major boxing shows to network television in the U.S. will start with a card on Saturday, March 7. Thus far announced are matches featuring Keith Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs) vs. Robert Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs), and Adrien Broner (29-1, 22 KOs) vs. John Molina Jr. (27-2, 22 KOs). On April 11, Danny Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) will face Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs).

For this year, there will be 20 live "PBC on NBC" events. This will include five Saturday primetime shows on NBC, six Saturday afternoon shows on NBC, and nine Saturday primetime shows on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), with specific dates and times to be announced.

There will also be Spanish-language audio and video coverage of these cards, as well as video streaming on NBC Sports Live Extra via their TV Everywhere service.

In this Premier Boxing Champions venture, NBC is working with Haymon Boxing and its head, boxing manager Al Haymon.

The news conference featured Jon Miller, the President of Programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN; a video from sportscaster Al Michaels, who will be the host of these prime time shows on NBC; boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who will be the lead analyst on these shows; award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who will be in charge of composing the music for these shows; Lamont Jones, Vice President of Operations for Haymon Boxing Management; introductions of the fighters; and a short video on the history of boxing on NBC radio and TV.

Of particular note were these announcements by Lamont Jones: "With the support of the United States Anti‑Doping Agency, each boxer who competes in a PBC bout will be subjected to rigorous Olympic‑style random drug testing. With the involvement of the Cleveland Clinic, each boxer who competes in a PBC bout will benefit from evaluations by staff physicians from the clinic. And the PBC series will support the clinic's important Professional Fighter’s Brain Health Study."

We will also have several individual interviews from this news conference posted shortly.

We also open with a commentary on how this can all be a game-changer for the oft-beleaguered sport of boxing.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Payleg.com, which gives you the tools to develop a full-time income by building a home-based business. Teaching success in the home-based business industry since 1988, Payleg.com is available in 190 countries. For more information, go to Payleg.com.

Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.

Labels: Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Eddie Goldman, John Molina Jr., Keith Thurman, Lamont Peterson, NBC. Al Haymon, No Holds Barred, PBC, Premier Boxing Champions, Robert Guerrero

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with our correspondent Keisha Morrisey and "The Fight Professor" Stephen Quadros.

We were all at the Glory 9 kickboxing card, which took place Saturday, June 22, at the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center in New York.

Keisha Morrisey also shuttled between this event and the boxing card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, headlined by the Adrien Broner-Paulie Malignaggi fight. This provided her an unparalleled opportunity to compare both live shows.

Right after the fights, we had a short discussion with Stephen Quadros, who was a TV commentator for Glory 9, about the highs and lows of this card, including the three victories by Tyrone Spong to win the eight-man, light heavyweight tournament.

We spoke with Keisha Morrisey Sunday by phone about how she evaluated these two events.

"Just in walking into the Glory event, you automatically felt the illumination in the room, the energy of the fans. The music was beautiful, the ambiance, everything about the setting was right on point," she said in this interview.

As far as the boxing at the Barclays Center, she added, "It's unreal the energy that you do not have at a boxing event there."

We discussed why Glory 9 was by far the better event, the future of boxing and kickboxing in the combat sports world, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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Labels: Adrien Broner, boxing, Brooklyn, Eddie Goldman, Glory 9, Keisha Morrisey, kickboxing, New York, No Holds Barred, Paulie Malignaggi, Stephen Quadros, Tyrone Spong

Labels: Adrien Broner, boxing, Eddie Goldman, HBO, No Holds Barred, Vicente Escobedo