NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman analyzes the Carl Frampton vs. Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia vs. Elio Rojas, and Adonis Stevenson vs. Thomas Williams Jr. fights from this past weekend, and previews fights involving Andre Ward and Terrell Gausha.

This past Saturday, July 30, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and shown live in the U.S. on Showtime, Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) captured the WBA featherweight belt with a majority decision over Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs). This battle was a fight of the year candidate, with the smaller Frampton also earning mention as a fighter of the year candidate by defeating two previously unbeaten fighters this year, Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg.

The co-feature saw the return of Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs), who stopped the veteran Elio Rojas (24-3, 14 KOs) in the fifth round of a 140-pound bout. Garcia was returning after a two-and-a-half year layoff because of a legal dispute with his previous promoter, Top Rank, which finally ended in his victory. With this win, Garcia said after the fight that he wants to fight at welterweight for now, as we await his decision on his plans. Rojas was also coming off a layoff after a contract dispute with his former promoter, Don King.

On Friday night, the WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) scored a fourth-round knockout victory over Thomas Williams Jr. (20-2, 14 KOs) in an old school and crowd-pleasing brawl. This was the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) show on Spike TV in the U.S., and took place at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. We also discuss some of the shortcomings of this telecast, and why the business of boxing should see itself as a TV product first.

On August 27, the 2012 U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha (18-0, 9 KOs) will continue to try to rise to the top of the 154-pound division, as he takes on Steve Martinez (16-2, 13 KOs) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. This fight will be part of a card shown on Spike TV in the U.S. Our colleague Chris Baldwin spoke with Terrell Gausha at a recent media event and got some brief comments from him.

Yet another fighter in the process of returning from a layoff caused by a contract dispute with his promoter is 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs). He will face 39-year-old Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) of Colombia on August 6 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, and shown live in the U.S. on HBO, in what is expected to be his last tune-up fight before facing light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the fall. We spoke with Andre Ward on a recent media conference call.

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No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The Boxing Tribune, boxing's independent media. Unlike every other major boxing website, The Boxing Tribune is not funded or owned by promoters, managers, or networks, and is fully independent and free to write the truth. For independent boxing news and views, go to http://boxingtribune-news.com.

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Labels: Adonis Stevenson, Andre Ward, boxing, Carl Frampton, Eddie Goldman, Elio Rojas, Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia, No Holds Barred, Terrell Gausha, Thomas Williams Jr.

(Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg photo: Mark Robinson)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the upcoming Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg and Guillermo Rigondeaux-Jazza Dickens super bantamweight fights, and gets comments from the fighters.

The long-awaited title unification fight between the two unbeaten fighters, IBF champion Carl Frampton and WBA champion Scott Quigg, will take place Saturday, February 27, in the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. It will be televised live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and live in the U.S. on Showtime Extreme.

Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs), of Belfast, Northern Ireland, is known more as a boxer. Quigg (32-0-2, 23 KOs), of Bury, Lancashire, United Kingdom, is seen more as a puncher.

On Saturday, March 12, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters and technicians in the world, and also one of the most avoided fighters in the world, two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) returns to action. He will face a huge underdog, the 24-year-old British super bantamweight champion James "Jazza" Dickens (21-1, 6 KOs). This fight, on the undercard of the Terry Flanagan-Derry Mathews WBO lightweight title fight, takes place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. It will be shown live in the U.K. on BoxNation. Thus far, no U.S. telecast has been announced.

We spoke with Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and Jazza Dickens on recent media conference calls to get their views on their fights and their plans.

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

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 free to listen to and is sponsored by:

The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation.

BJJ Eastern Europe, for the latest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu news, articles, interviews, competition calendar, European belt rankings, academy directory, and more. For more information, go to BJJEE.com.

The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com.

Labels: boxing, Carl Frampton, Eddie Goldman, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Jazza Dickens, No Holds Barred, Scott Quigg, super bantamweight

(Chavez-Reyes photo by Esther Lin/Showtime. Frampton-Gonzalez photos by Esther Lin/CBS. Photo of Scott Quigg by Lawrence Lustig.)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the fights this past Saturday, July 18, involving Julio César Chávez Jr., Carl Frampton, and Scott Quigg.

In El Paso, Texas, Chávez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs), the son of the Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, won a lackluster decision over the smaller Marcos Reyes (33-3, 24 KOs). Earlier that day also in El Paso, the unbeaten Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs), the IBF 122-pound champion, survived two first-round knockdowns to win a unanimous decision over challenger Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (25-2-2, 15 KOs). The Chavez Jr.-Reyes fight headlined a Showtime telecast in the U.S., while Frampton-Gonzalez headlined a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) telecast on CBS in the U.S., and was also shown on ITV in the U.K. and UTV in Ireland.

At the same time as the Frampton-Gonzalez card took place, a major card in Manchester, England, and on Sky Sports in the U.K., featured a fight between the unbeaten WBA 122-pound champion Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KOs) and challenger Kiko Martinez (32-6, 24 KOs). After Martinez seemed to pressure Quigg and win the first round, Quigg came back in the second to drop Martinez twice, resulting in the referee stopping the fight and a TKO win for Quigg.

With talk turning to a Frampton-Quigg super fight or for each fighter to face other opponents, we discuss both the victories and the vulnerabilities of both fighters, as well as those of Chávez Jr.. We also discuss how people in boxing react to vulnerabilities, which obviously everyone has, as well as the vulnerabilities of the sport itself, and much more.

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

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, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free 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 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.

Labels: boxing, Carl Frampton, Eddie Goldman, Julio César Chávez Jr., No Holds Barred, Scott Quigg, vulnerabilities