NO HOLDS BARRED

by Eddie Goldman

The critters who run boxing have made an art and a science of emptying the wallets of the sport's fans better than any knife-wielding, mask-wearing robber. For years they have convinced a small but declining section of the public to pay, pay, and pay again for their "must-see" and "great" fights, including several declared to be "the fight of the century".

You could once watch boxing on TV for free or listen to it on the radio in the U.S. several nights a week. There were far fewer programming choices in those days of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, than there are now.

Even then the wheels were in motion for colossal rip-offs. From exclusively showing major fights in movie theaters for inflated prices from the 1940s to the 1970s and after, and to hiding them behind the paywalls of premium cable and pay-per-view when access to those became widespread enough, the lords of boxing managed to enrich themselves while taking boxing from a major mainstream sport into a niche venture whose top fighters were unknown to succeeding generations. The top boxers used to be household names, and all sports fans knew who the heavyweight champion of the world was, especially since in the past there was usually just one. Pay-per-view took care of that inconvenience to the promoters' and networks' capital accumulation.

Oh yes, there were a few breakout stars during this pay-per-view period, such as Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and, to a degree in some places, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. But just ask people who are not in AARP who Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Andre Ward, and the Klitschkos are. If they are not dedicated boxing fans, you will likely get answers ranging from basketball players to indicted co-conspirators in the Mueller investigation.

But even more than the damage caused by the cancerous growth of sanctioning bodies, titles, and weight classes, the closeting of boxing's top stars gradually made them and their sport not only a niche product, but usually a culturally and socially irrelevant one, too. Pay-per-view has been killing boxing, and thus itself, just like a slow-acting poison murders its victim. The difference in this case is that all this was self-inflicted.

And now, it pleases me to report, the chickens have come home to roost. The recent exit of HBO from boxing not only signifies that "adapt or die" is still a potent maxim, but also that the pay-per-view model, pioneered by them, has collapsed, and fast and hard.

This Wednesday it was announcement that Canelo, the last boxing pay-per-view star, and now former HBO fighter, had signed a reported five-year, 11-fight, $365 million deal with the DAZN streaming service. Along with him came his promoters, Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which will put on up to 10 fight nights a year on DAZN starting in 2019.

Critical to this deal, and not highlighted by most of the commentaries on it, is that the announcement of it said: "These fights will be available in all DAZN markets, including the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan." So as DAZN, which only started showing live events in the U.S. last month, expands to more countries and gains rights to show more sports in each of them, the audience for these Golden Boy and Canelo fights will expand accordingly.

Canelo's first DAZN fight will be on December 15 against WBA super middleweight champ Rocky Fielding, and take place in Madison Square Garden. DAZN, whose subscription fee is about ten bucks a month after a one-month free trial, promised to make this fight available for free to non-subscribers and subscribers alike.

What was most likely the last HBO pay-per-view took place last month and featured Canelo fighting Gennady Golovkin in a rematch of their controversial draw from last year. The price for this card alone was about $85 on cable. Now you can watch all of Canelo's fights on DAZN, including all their various boxing and other sports shows, for that one fee. There is no dealing with the stankiest of companies, the cable monopolies, unless you rely on them for overall Internet access anyway. Cable, which once disrupted the broadcast TV business, has itself been disrupted by this emerging technology.

While this signing may be viewed as an historical turning point for boxing, it is only part of a greater transition from the dominance of cable in the U.S. to a new paradigm where streaming on all sorts of connected devices existing and yet to come takes precedence.

If you want to watch the latest "Star Trek" series, including both "Discovery" and a new untitled one starring Patrick Stewart, you need to subscribe to the CBS All Access streaming service, whether that is the logical thing to do or not. Disney is rolling out new streaming services which will become the exclusive online home of their movies and shows, which will soon be pulled from competing services like Netflix. There is a growing list of these streamers, known in the bizarre industry jargon as over-the-top or OTT services. The expected rollout of 5G in the U.S., which promises super-fast connections, and has already begun in a few trial areas, will only accelerate these developments.

Just where this all ends, which ones survive and which fail, and which ones merge and gobble up the rest, is not yet known. But it is clear that we are increasingly living in an OTT world, and resistance is futile.

Boxing has ridden the crest of emerging technologies, at least since Thomas Edison filmed a boxing exhibition between James J. Corbett and Peter Courtney in 1894, through the days of talking pictures, radio, broadcast TV, cable, and now Internet and mobile. That does not mean, however, that the companies using these new technologies immediately were economically viable. That may take years to accomplish.

In the 1870s, a new, struggling company tried to sell its patents to Western Union, then one of the largest companies in America. Western Union, after a patent fight, declined to work with them. That little company soon became known as the Bell Telephone Company, and later AT&T.

In 1954, the Time-Life media conglomerate launched a new magazine. It would lose money for about a decade, and take that long to hone its content. That magazine is Sports Illustrated, today with new owners, a web site, and available on all the modern conveniences. (While studying magazine publishing at NYU's grad school in the 1980s, we were clearly taught that successful big magazines should expect to lose money for at least five years before they became solvent.)

In 1994, a pie-in-the-sky online bookstore was launched in a garage, soon after the World Wide Web became widely available. In those days it was sometimes on the verge of bankruptcy, and was often ridiculed by the old guard of the business world. That company, Amazon, is now a profitable, multi-billion dollar operation.

Another company, founded in 1997, tried to make a go of it by renting DVDs and shipping them out via the post office. After unsuccessfully trying to sell this money-losing company, they figured out how to innovate and survive. That company then, and now, is known as Netflix.

Tellingly enough, an article in a fixture of the old media which is trying to prosper in today's world, The New York Times, said that Netflix had an "unorthodox media model." They are betting on a formula of: "Spend big now, and reap a massive subscriber base (and big profits) later. Possibly much later." Yet such a model is actually quite common for media companies, even if most fail.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/business/media/netflix-streaming-competition.html)

None of this, of course, is any guarantee that DAZN won't end up on another list that includes the Edsel, Kodak, Blockbuster, MySpace, Radio Shack, and more recently Toy R Us. But to attack DAZN now as a flop awaiting collapse, as some of boxing's bought-off "media" are already saying or implying, is nothing short of propaganda for the few beneficiaries of the actually collapsing boxing pay-per-view model.

DAZN has only been around since 2016, starting in the U.S. and Italy this year. It is backed by the multi-billionaire Len Blavatnik and his Access Industries. Originally from the Ukraine in what was then the Soviet Union, Blavatnik now is a citizen of both the U.S. and U.K., and is reportedly the richest man in the U.K. and 50th richest in the world. Since 2011 one of his companies has owned the Warner Music Group. A 61-year-old, short, pudgy, balding man, Blavatnik can be seen hobnobbing with an assortment of celebrities and ruling class figures in a recent in-depth but unflattering profile in The Hollywood Reporter called "Music's Mystery Mogul: Len Blavatnik, Trump and Their Russian Friends", at https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/why-is-warner-music-group-owner-len-blavatnik-russia-probe-1150550.

The Perform Group is the parent company of DAZN, but news reports indicate that Perform is seeking to split into two, sell off its non-DAZN operations, and rename itself the DAZN Group. (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/10/14/billionaire-blavatnik-plots-break-sale-perform-empire-fund-netflix/)

The cash from these sales would be added to its coffers as it buys up sports rights around the world in its quest to become the mythical "Netflix of sports". The Canelo-Golden Boy deal must be seen in this light.

Just like magazines initially lose money as they pay for compelling content to attract a paying audience, DAZN is in the early stages of acquiring that content through different marquee sports in countries where the rights are available. Some of that means getting out-of-market streaming rights, like to the NFL in Canada or MLB, NFL, and NBA in Europe, and some of that is getting the streaming rights to top-tier events in their home countries, like Serie A football in Italy and Matchroom Boxing and Bellator MMA in the U.S.

For boxing, besides the Canelo-Golden Boy deal, DAZN began its U.S. streaming operation with a slate of at least 32 Matchroom cards per year, half from the U.S, and half from the U.K. and Europe. With Matchroom promising to expand to more countries, presumably all those cards will be streamed in the U.S.

That gives DAZN, on about its one-month anniversary in the U.S., access to the fights of the top two stars in the world in boxing, unified heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua and unified middleweight champ Canelo.

DAZN also streams the universally-acclaimed World Boxing Super Series in the U.S. and Canada. These tournaments pit most of the best fighters in each of its weight classes against one another, answering one of the most common complaints about boxing's refusal usually to have the best fight the best, and the fragmentation of titles through a dense maze of sanctioning body hooey.

There is nothing today, not even the robust roster of talented fighters who appear on Premier Boxing Champions' telecasts on Showtime and soon on Fox, that matches the depth and breadth of the boxing competition that is shown on DAZN. And that's after only one month.

And still, it might yet tank for any number of reasons. Unresolved technical glitches and outages, scandals and chaos embedded in boxing's history and organization, general economic and political crises, and running out of money before acquiring a large and stable enough subscriber base all are possibilities.

But they do have a large and experienced technical staff, and they have a growing pile of cash to spend. Whether that will see them through world and boxing-related crises is the question that they are trying to answer every day. To write them off today, simply because it will take them time to make it, is unhistorical sophistry fueled by envy and connections to the dying businesses which the OTT world is disrupting and destroying. Let the compromised media vultures find another carcass upon which to chew. And let those uneducated in these historical processes learn critical thinking better than they have at present.

No doubt the older technologies will survive and unpeacefully co-exist with the newer ones for some time. Radio is still around, although millions no longer flock around the living room radio to catch regularly scheduled shows by people like Arthur Godfrey, Jack Benny, and Burns and Allen (you young whippersnappers can remove your VR headsets and earbuds and Google the names of these classic entertainers of the past, since I'm almost done writing this piece).

Thus, in the U.S., boxing on DAZN will compete with the Top Rank and international shows on ESPN and its ESPN+ streaming service, and the PBC shows on the old premium cable network Showtime and broadcast network Fox. Time will tell which ones or one will be left standing, although generally the one with the strongest tie to the newest technologies prevails.

There is bound to be a shakeup and series of mergers and consolidations among the increasingly fragmented OTT services. Enough people will just not subscribe to numerous separate and competing services at once for sports, movies, TV shows, different individual networks, and the rest, in order for them all to survive. Don't be surprised if in several years we have something like DEZPN, or that DAZN, if they are a winner, swallows up one or more of these services.

We thus bid farewell to boxing's pay-per-view rip-off era. This model has been disrupted and destroyed by the forward march of technology and the short-sightedness of its purveyors. There will still be some feeble attempts in the U.S. to keep it on life support, but its condition is terminal. Good riddance to it, and I spit on its grave.

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/DAZN.)

Labels: boxing, Canelo, DAZN, Eddie Goldman, ESPN, HBO, No Holds Barred, OTT, over-the-top, pay-per-view, Saul Alvarez, Showtime

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the recent fights of top ten pound-for-pound fighters Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford, who both formerly fought on HBO in the U.S., as well as the critical success of the World Boxing Super Series. Also previewed is Crawford's next fight, on October 13 against Jose Benavidez Jr., which will air on ESPN in the U.S. We spoke with Crawford on last week's media conference call.

(Photo of Naoya Inoue knockout of Juan Carlos Payano by Naoki Fukuda/World Boxing Super Series.)

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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.

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Labels: boxing, DAZN, Eddie Goldman, ESPN, HBO, Monster, Naoya Inoue, No Holds Barred, Terence Crawford, World Boxing Super Series

Here is my piece for Deadspin, which just was posted today.

"HBO Was Bad For Boxing" on Deadspin, by Eddie Goldman

https://deadspin.com/hbo-was-bad-for-boxing-1829440237

Labels: boxing, Deadspin, Eddie Goldman, HBO, No Holds Barred

Finally.

From Showtime:

MATCHROOM SPORT AND KLITSCHKO MANAGEMENT GROUP INK DEAL FOR U.S. TELEVISION RIGHTS TO HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BLOCKBUSTER EVENT: ANTHONY JOSHUA vs. WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO

American Premium Television Giants SHOWTIME and HBO To Produce Separate Telecasts on Saturday, April 29 From London’s Wembley Stadium

SHOWTIME Live at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT;
HBO Telecast in Primetime at approx. 10:45 p.m. ET/PT


Photo Credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

LONDON (April 17, 2017) – Matchroom Sport, Klitschko Management Group (KMG) and K2 Promotions have reached agreement with U.S. premium television giants Showtime and HBO to televise the most significant heavyweight world championship match in more than a decade. On Saturday, April 29, IBF Heavyweight World Champion Anthony Joshua will face former unified world champion Wladimir Klitschko from a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London.

Showtime is the exclusive U.S. television partner of Joshua, while HBO has an exclusive agreement with Klitschko in the States. Each premium network will produce its own separate telecast of the main event match for the U.S. audience. SHOWTIME will televise its SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING presentation live at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT, while HBO will televise its WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING production at approximately 10:45 p.m. ET/PT.

Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) and Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) will meet for Joshua’s IBF World Championship and the vacant IBO and WBA World Championships. The British sensation Joshua has knocked out all 18 of his professional opponents in a meteoric rise to stardom, while the long-reigning world champion from Ukraine, Klitschko, aims to win back titles he previously held in his 11-year rule as heavyweight world champion. Joshua vs. Klitschko is promoted by Matchroom Boxing, KMG and K2 Promotions and has officially sold out Wembley Stadium with a record-setting 90,000 tickets sold.

“I'm extremely happy and thankful that our respective U.S. TV partners Showtime and HBO reached an agreement,” said Bernd Boente, Managing Director of Klitschko Management Group. “This happened before in the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and the Lewis vs. Tyson fights and shows you the magnitude of our event at Wembley Stadium on April 29.”

"I'm delighted to announce this historic deal that will see Britain's biggest ever fight shown on both HBO and SHOWTIME in the U.S.,” said Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. “It takes a special fight to break down barriers and boundaries but also networks and executives who believe in working with the best interest of fight fans in mind. With the obstacles in place it would have been any easy resolution to not air the fight in the States but I want to thank HBO and Showtime for their perseverance and allowing America to see one hell of a fight at our national stadium in front on 90,000 passionate fans. Joshua vs. Klitschko is a fight for the ages and we look forward to the show!"

"We are thrilled to be delivering Joshua vs. Klitschko to the U.S. audience live on SHOWTIME,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “On the afternoon of April 29, U.S. sports fans will be able to tune in to SHOWTIME to join a record-breaking crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium and a worldwide television audience in witnessing an event that represents not only the contesting of the heavyweight world championship, but potentially the changing of the guard in the most influential division in boxing. We are proud to be Anthony Joshua’s exclusive U.S. television partner as he attempts to establish his legacy against the legendary Wladimir Klitschko, live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, as Showtime continues its unrivaled commitment to the sport."

Said Peter Nelson, executive vice president, HBO Sports: "Both promoters and both networks have found a solution that enables boxing fans in the U.S. to watch the world heavyweight championship. This agreement ensures that our subscribers have access to same-day primetime coverage of the fight. It will mark Wladimir Klitschko’s 22nd appearance on HBO and the first for Anthony Joshua.”

The 27-year-old Joshua has been perfect since turning professional shortly after winning Gold at the 2012 Olympics for Great Britain. Joshua, of Watford, England, won the IBF Heavyweight World Championship with a second-round knockout of defending champion Charles Martin in April 2016, earning a heavyweight belt in the fewest number of fights in more than 20 years. He has since successfully defended the title twice—against Dominic Breazeale in June and Eric Molina in December.

Joshua is just the sixth Olympic Gold Medalist at super heavyweight to go on to win a professional heavyweight world title, joining Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Alexander Povetkin and his rival on April 29, Wladimir Klitschko.

HBO has been the long-time home of Klitschko’s professional boxing career in the States. The 41-year-old has been a kingpin in the heavyweight division since winning Gold at the 1996 Olympic Games. He turned pro shortly after the Atlanta games and ran an undefeated campaign for 24 fights before suffering his first defeat to experienced veteran Ross Puritty. Klitschko quickly rebounded by winning 10 in a row and captured his first world title (WBO) with a unanimous decision victory over Chris Byrd in 2000, a win which avenged a loss by his brother, Vitali, earlier that year.

Klitschko’s most recent reign at heavyweight began in 2006 when he captured the IBF and IBO belts via knockout in a rematch against Chris Byrd. He went on to make 17 consecutive defenses of the IBF and IBO crowns, 13 consecutive defenses of the WBO belt, and eight consecutive defenses of the WBA title. Along the way, he amassed victories over Sultan Ibragimov, Hasim Rahman, Ruslan Chagaev, David Haye, Samuel Peter, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev and more. In total he has fought in 28 total world title fights - a unique record in the history of the heavyweight division - compared to just 18 total professional fights for Anthony Joshua. He was the longest reigning world champion (2006-2015) after Joe Louis.

This will be Klitschko’s first outing since losing the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles to Tyson Fury in 2015, his first defeat in 11 years.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, HBO, Showtime, Wladimir Klitschko

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the May 23 Andre Dirrell vs. James DeGale fight, and comments on the May 16 HBO Boxing telecast.

On Saturday, May 23, Andre Dirrell of the U.S. (24-1, 16 KOs) takes on James DeGale of the U.K. (20-1, 14 KOs) at Boston University's Agganis Arena in a fight for the vacant IBF super middleweight belt. This fight, part of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series, will be shown live Saturday afternoon in the U.S. on NBC, and live Saturday night in the U.K. on Sky Sports.

Both Dirrell, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, and DeGale, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist, will be trying to capture their first world title. DeGale will also try to become the first British Olympic gold medalist to win a pro world title.

We spoke with both Andre Dirrell and James DeGale on a media conference call Thursday.

On Saturday, May 16, HBO telecast two title fights showcasing undefeated star fighters. Middleweight champ Gennady "GGG" Golovkin of Kazakhstan (33-0, 30 KOs) scored his 20th straight stoppage by dispatching overmatched and light-hitting challenger Willie Monroe Jr. of the U.S. (19-2, 6 KOs) by sixth-round TKO. Another star making his long overdue HBO debut was flyweight champ Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez of Nicaragua, who upped his record to 43-0 with 37 KOs by dominating and stopping the tough former 108-pound champion Edgar Sosa of Mexico (51-9, 30 KOs) with a second-round TKO.

While the HBO card was undoubtedly entertaining to fight fans, we discuss how HBO is primarily showcasing the best fighters signed to that network, instead of primarily having the best fight the best in each weight class. We also contrast this to the past few PBC cards, as well as this coming Saturday's Dirrell-DeGale fight, which should be competitive and intriguing.

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Labels: Andre Dirrell, boxing, Chocolatito, Eddie Goldman, Edgar Sosa, Gennady Golovkin, GGG, HBO, James DeGale, No Holds Barred, PBC, Roman Gonzalez, Willie Monroe

(Photo of Omar Figueroa and Ricky Burns by Esther Lin/PBC on CBS, photo of Canelo Alvarez and James Kirkland by Ed Mulholland/Golden Boy/Golden Boy via Getty Images)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the Friday, May 29, Premier Boxing Champions card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, by speaking with Amir Khan, Chris Algieri, and Paulie Malignaggi.

On that card, Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) will face Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) and Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) will take on Danny O'Connor (25-2, 9 KOs) in welterweight bouts. These fights will be televised live in the U.S. on Spike TV.

We spoke with Amir Khan, Chris Algieri, and Paulie Malignaggi on a media conference call Wednesday.

This past weekend there were several televised fights, and we review Saturday's action on the PBC on CBS card and the HBO card later that evening.

On the PBC on CBS card, which took place at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, Omar Figueroa of Texas (25-0-1, 18 KOs) got a close and controversial unanimous decision over Ricky Burns of Scotland (37-5-1, 11 KOs), in a super lightweight fight. Also on that show, the U.K.'s Jamie McDonnell (25-2-1, 12 KOs) defended his WBA bantamweight belt by winning a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Tomoki Kameda (31-1, 19 KOs), who is from Japan but trains in Mexico.

On the HBO card, which took place at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, and as many expected, super welterweight Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) knocked out James Kirkland of Texas (32-2, 28 KOs) in the third round of a slugfest.

We compare the PBC on CBS card to the Canelo-Kirkland fight on HBO, discuss more of the fallout over Pacquiao's claim he was injured during his fight with Floyd Mayweather, rip the mainstream and most of the boxing media for not properly discussing this issue and dealing with doping in boxing, 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:

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: Amir Khan, boxing, Canelo Alvarez, CBS, Chris Algieri, Eddie Goldman, Floyd Mayweather, HBO, James Kirkland, Manny Pacquiao, No Holds Barred, Omar Figueroa, Paulie Malignaggi, PBC, Ricky Burns

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents Friday's conference call featuring Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Showtime Sports, and Ken Hershman, President, HBO Sports.

It was just announced Friday evening that what will easily be the biggest fight in decades, Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, has been signed and will take place May 2. Similar to the 2002 Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson fight, this will be a joint pay-per-view by Showtime and HBO.

Many more details need to be announced and in fact settled, but this fight, a welterweight title fight, has now been signed and is official. On this hastily-announced conference call, both Showtime's Espinoza and HBO's Hershman discussed some of what has been agreed upon and what remains to be done, including announcements of who will be the commentators for the joint telecast.

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: boxing, Eddie Goldman, Floyd Mayweather, HBO, Ken Hershman, Manny Pacquiao, No Holds Barred, Showtime, Stephen Espinoza

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

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman and our senior correspondent John Perretti review the one-sided tenth-round TKO victory by WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs) over Chris Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs). This fight took place Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

After covering this fight live from the arena, John declared that it was a one-sided mismatch, and one of the worst in history. We discuss this fight in-depth, objectively and soberly. We analyze how and why Klitschko was able to neutralize any offense attempted by the previously unbeaten Arreola, and why his own attack was so effective that Arreola's own corner had the fight stopped after the tenth round. We also examine why Arreola seems still to be a marketable heavyweight and a sympathetic figure, despite his lack of world-class skills.

We also discuss what John called "delusional" reactions to this fight, both by many fans and members of the media. John shares with us the highlights of his postfight discussions with Oscar De La Hoya, James Toney, and Mike Tyson. We consider what this lopsided victory by Vitali Klitschko does for the state of the heavyweight division. And we make a few comparisons between the sports of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Plus, towards the end of our discussion, we raise the question whether or not the two top fighters in the heavyweight division today, the brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, ought to fight one another.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

MMA WORLD EXPO, an event designed for the mixed martial arts community offering hands-on instruction from professional trainers and athletes, educational sessions with the who's who of the MMA world, and an exhibit hall filled with the industry's top suppliers and services. MMA WORLD EXPO takes place Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Chris Arreola, Eddie Goldman, HBO, John Perretti, MMA, No Holds Barred, UFC, Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, world heavyweight champion

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman and our senior correspondent John Perretti preview the WBC heavyweight title fight between champion Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs) and challenger Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs). This fight takes place this Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will be telecast in the U.S. on HBO.

We open with an interview John conducted with HBO commentator Larry Merchant about this fight. Then Eddie and John have an in-depth discussion about it, as John critiques what he calls "antiquated" training methods used in particular by the Klitschko camp. We both evaluate these two fighters, and explain the difficulties Arreola faces in winning the belt from Klitschko. But we also discuss what Arreola must do, even if he loses, to preserve his career.

We next hear interviews conducted by John with unbeaten super featherweight John Molina (17-0, 13 KOs), who fights veteran Efren Hinojosa (30-6-1, 17 KOs) on this undercard, and 2008 U.S. Olympian super middleweight Shawn Estrada (6-0, 6 KOs), who also is on this undercard. And we hear heavyweight prospect Manny Quezada (28-4, 18 KOs), a late bloomer who knocked out prospect Travis Walker (31-3-1, 25 KOs in the first round in July.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 25-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

MMA WORLD EXPO, an event designed for the mixed martial arts community offering hands-on instruction from professional trainers and athletes, educational sessions with the who's who of the MMA world, and an exhibit hall filled with the industry's top suppliers and services. MMA WORLD EXPO takes place Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Chris Arreola, Eddie Goldman, HBO, John Molina, John Perretti, Larry Merchant, No Holds Barred, Vitali Klitschko, world heavyweight champion

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman reviews with our senior correspondent, John Perretti, the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez and Vitor Belfort-Rich Franklin fights from this past Saturday, September 19, and what they both say about boxing and mixed martial arts.

We both praise the tremendous skills which Mayweather demonstrated in his return to the ring after a break of almost two years. But we also lambast HBO for turning the postfight interview with him into a train wreck which not only disrespected this world-class talent, but also resembled something lifted from a script commonly used in the trash heap known as pro "wrestling".

We then tie in this crude, imitative stunt to a general decades-long decline in American culture and civilization, including music, placing what happens in the combat sports as part of larger social, cultural, and political trends.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 25-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

MMA WORLD EXPO, an event designed for the mixed martial arts community offering hands-on instruction from professional trainers and athletes, educational sessions with the who's who of the MMA world, and an exhibit hall filled with the industry's top suppliers and services. MMA WORLD EXPO takes place Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, Floyd Mayweather, HBO, John Perretti, Juan Manuel Marquez, Max Kellerman, MMA, No Holds Barred, UFC, Vitor Belfort

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Jacqui Snow, our correspondent and the technical consultant for No Holds Barred. She is also a moderator of the very popular MySpace Boxing Forum.

With a glut of major and minor boxing and mixed martial arts pay-per-views on television, a continuing worldwide economic crisis, and the explosive growth of technology like Internet video and audio, the issue of how people watch combat sports events is still being debated. The boxing business in particular has tried to resist the inexorable march of technology. More and more people are watching these sports online, whether on legal sites, unauthorized videos on sites like YouTube, or on a mushrooming collection of so-called "pirate" sites.

In our discussion, we explain the necessity for these sports to change their business models to conform to these new technologies. They must, as Jacqui Snow insisted, "Adapt or die." We also discuss the issue of piracy, both by legal business like the shrinking group of boxing promoters and television networks which try to line their pockets with expensive pay-per-views which only enrich a handful of people, and by those sites on which live streams or videos of fights appear in violation of copyright laws.

And we name names, discussing the key sites, both legal and otherwise, involved in live streaming video, including SopCast, DeliCast, WWITV, TVU, Livestation, and KeyHoleTV, as well as the forums which link to these sites such as the MyP2P and AllP2P forums.

This is the kind of information which most of the combat sports media either shies away from delivering or wants to keep concealed. But you will hear the truth and the whole truth, right here on No Holds Barred.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

MMA WORLD EXPO, an event designed for the mixed martial arts community offering hands-on instruction from professional trainers and athletes, educational sessions with the who's who of the MMA world, and an exhibit hall filled with the industry's top suppliers and services. MMA WORLD EXPO takes place Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: AllP2P, boxing, DeliCast, Eddie Goldman, HBO, Jacqui Snow, KeyHoleTV, Livestation, MMA, MyP2P, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view, SopCast, TVU, UFC, WWITV

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman focuses on the need for fighters in sports like boxing and mixed martial arts to unite and struggle together to protect and expand their rights.

We open discussing story about a lawsuit filed by the sports licensing group Fighters Inc., alleging that Electronic Arts (EA) used the names and likenesses of various professional boxers in a video game in violation of a group licensing program which Fighters Inc. claims to have established. We then go on to discuss how various attempts to organize boxers in a union over the past decade have failed, and how the media covering combat sports has generally reflected the views of the promoters and not the fighters.

We next go on to hear an important excerpt of a discussion we had with Stewart Acuff, AFL-CIO Director of Organizing, and Bob Carson. We spoke about the need to organize fighters in sports like boxing and mixed martial arts, and what role the AFL-CIO might play in that. You can also hear the entire interview, which focused on the current direction and tasks of the labor movement in America, on the Carson's Corner political show.

Next, we continued our series of media appearances as a guest Sunday on The Boxing Truth Radio. We ripped HBO for how it presented the issue of fighter Juan Manuel Marquez drinking his own urine on their Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 infomercial, lambasted the obsolete pay-per-view business model, and more. You can also hear the entire September 6 edition of The Boxing Truth Radio here.

Last but not least, we discuss the mismanagement of televised boxing cards this past weekend and next, as the networks and promoters stubbornly persist in business models which provide the least exposure and income for most fighters, while lining the pockets of the shrinking group of executives at networks which still telecast boxing. We discuss the replay of the Roy Jones Jr.-Jeff Lacy fight and the bout between 19-year-old phenom Marvin Sonsona and Jose Lopez last weekend, as well as the glut of premium and pay-per-view fights all scheduled for the same time this coming Saturday, September 12.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

MMA WORLD EXPO, an event designed for the mixed martial arts community offering hands-on instruction from professional trainers and athletes, educational sessions with the who's who of the MMA world, and an exhibit hall filled with the industry's top suppliers and services. MMA WORLD EXPO takes place Saturday, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: AFL-CIO, Bob Carson, boxing, Boxing Truth Radio, Carson's Corner, Eddie Goldman, HBO, Juan Manuel Marquez, Labor Day, mixed martial arts, MMA, No Holds Barred, Stewart Acuff, UFC, urine drinking

Former Olympic and world champion Meldrick Taylor, Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred, and Gumersindo Vidot, the publicist for Meldrick Taylor, were guests on the nationally-syndicated "Joey Reynolds Show" late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, Aug. 31/Sept. 1. Eddie Goldman is also the boxing correspondent for the "Joey Reynolds Show".

In the first half of our segment, Joey Reynolds and Eddie Goldman discussed a number of topics including the continuing controversy over the decision in the August 22 Paulie Malignaggi-Juan Diaz fight, the need for a rematch, how many of the people running boxing in America are ruining it, and also the growth and role of technology, especially in the media.

We were then joined by Meldrick Taylor and Gumersindo Vidot. The discussion turned to one of the most controversial fights in boxing history, the March 17, 1990, 140-pound title unification bout between two unbeaten champions, Meldrick Taylor and Julio Cesar Chavez, in Las Vegas, NV.

As the fight headed into the 12th and final round, Meldrick Taylor was well ahead on two of the scorecards. But in the closing seconds of that round, Chavez launched a final assault that sent Taylor to the canvas. With time running out, Taylor arose at about the count of six. While Taylor was standing straight up, however, referee Richard Steele stopped the fight -- with just two seconds remaining. Chavez stayed unbeaten and unified the belts, while Taylor suffered his first defeat in a stoppage which is still hotly debated today.

Meldrick Taylor's autobiography, "Two Seconds From Glory", has also been published. It is available through his web site at http://www.meldricktaylor.com/. The Chavez-Taylor fight of March 17, 1990, can be seen on YouTube.

You can play or download our discussion here.

The "Joey Reynolds Show" is a national radio broadcast in New York on WOR 710 AM and on 100 other stations via the WOR Network. The show airs live beginning at 1 AM ET and runs to 5 AM ET. For more information on the "Joey Reynolds Show", go here.

For more information on show producer Myra Chanin, go to http://motherwonderful.com/.

Labels: boxing, Don King, Eddie Goldman, Gumersindo Vidot, HBO, Joey Reynolds, Julio Cesar Chavez, Las Vegas, media, Meldrick Taylor, Richard Steele, WOR

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman begins by explaining how the lords of boxing completely blew an opportunity this past weekend to showcase a number of top fights and fighters to large audiences on free television, while another event, the UFC, was having another expensive pay-per-view. If you were one of the few to have viewed the Brian Viloria-Jesus Iribe fight, for example, you were in select company, although for now this fight is available on YouTube.

The battle for boxing to maintain whatever little credibility it has left by having a rematch between Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Diaz, in New York, and with neutral officials, continues. While the lords of boxing are trying to salvage business models based on obsolete technology, the real boxing fans are utilizing current mass technology to organize against the injustice which occurred August 22 when Diaz was awarded a lopsided unanimous decision over Malignaggi in a fight which the vast majority of observers thought that Malignaggi had comfortably won. You can now make your voice publicly heard by signing an online petition demanding a Malignaggi-Diaz rematch.

We discussed this fight, and what we can do to fight for a rematch, with Paulie Malignaggi this past Wednesday night, when he was attending the latest Broadway Boxing card at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York, where he also was a television announcer.

On this card, 23-year-old super featherweight prospect Argenis Mendez (14-1, 9 KOs) looked impressive in his first Broadway Boxing main event by scoring a fifth-round TKO over veteran Anthony Napunyi (14-7, 7 KOs). We spoke with him right after his fight, along with his training partner, unbeaten lightweight and former WBO super featherweight and super bantamweight champion Joan Guzman (29-0, 17 KOs). And we also spoke with promoter Lou DiBella about what he is doing to secure a rematch for his fighter, Paulie Malignaggi, with Juan Diaz, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: Argenis Mendez, boxing, Brian Viloria, Broadway Boxing, Eddie Goldman, Golden Boy, HBO, Jesus Iribe, Joan Guzman, Juan Diaz, Lords of Boxing, Lou DiBella, No Holds Barred, Paulie Malignaggi

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with promoter Lou DiBella about the in-ring robbery of his fighter, Paulie Malignaggi, in his August 22 fight with Juan Diaz in Houston, Texas, which was telecast in the U.S. on HBO. Diaz, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, was awarded a unanimous decision victory.

As usual, DiBella is outspoken in his outrage over what happened this past Saturday night. He criticizes not only the judges in the Malignaggi-Diaz fight, but especially the attitude of the Texas commission and the HBO announcers to Malignaggi and this decision, and the structure of boxing itself where judges are still paid by promoters.

He also called for an online campaign for Paulie Malignaggi to have a rematch with Juan Diaz, in New York, with, of course, neutral officials. Here is a message which you post wherever you can:

We demand that Golden Boy and HBO agree to a rematch between Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Diaz, in New York, with neutral officials.

You can post this on the HBO Boxing Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/hboboxing, and send it to the HBO Boxing Twitter page at http://twitter.com/hboboxing.

You can also post this on the Golden Boy Promotions Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Golden-Boy-Promotions-Inc/25053158606, and send it to the Golden Boy Promotions Twitter page at http://twitter.com/GoldenBoyOnline.

And you can also post this on the MySpace Boxing Forum at http://groups.myspace.com/boxing.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, boxing commission, Eddie Goldman, Golden Boy, HBO, Juan Diaz, Lou DiBella, No Holds Barred, Paulie Malignaggi, TDLR, Texas

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with our colleague and correspondent Charles Farrell, and veteran boxing journalist and former fighter Frank Lotierzo.

We start by analyzing the August 22 junior welterweight fight between Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Diaz, won by Diaz by a unanimous decision which most observers have described as being unfair at best and a robbery at worst. Then, in a lengthy and lively discussion, we proceed to examine the repercussions of this hotly disputed decision for the sport of boxing, try to assess just how much damage it has caused to this already declining sport, and consider what, if anything, can be done to restore some credibility to boxing. Plus, we also discuss the rivalry between boxing and mixed martial arts. This is an unbiased and brutally frank discussion at the highest level, so make sure to check it out in its entirety.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

You can also order tickets for the 2009 ADCC World Championship, which will be held September 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain, through Ticketmaster.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

GRACIEMAG, the most reliable source of information on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. GRACIEMAG represents Jiu-Jitsu philosophy and features news, profiles, history, photos, videos, and tips and secrets of the mother of all martial arts. Published since 1996 in Brazil, GRACIEMAG: The Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, is in both English and Portuguese, and is also online at GRACIEMAG.com.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Charles Farrell, Eddie Goldman, Frank Lotierzo, Golden Boy, HBO, Juan Diaz, Lou DiBella, mixed martial arts, MMA, No Holds Barred, Paulie Malignaggi, UFC

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the fight between WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) and challenger Joshua Clottey (35-2, 21 KOs), which takes place Saturday, June13, at Madison Square Garden in New York. This fight will be telecast by HBO in the U.S.

We had a chance at the kickoff news conference for this fight to get comments from both Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. We also discussed the stakes in this fight with television host Kristal Hart.

Also, we explain why, along with continuing all our other coverage, there will be expanded boxing coverage on No Holds Barred, and why Eddie Goldman has stopped producing and hosting SecondsOut Radio. We invite listeners of that show to come aboard No Holds Barred.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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

Gladiator Magazine, for in-depth coverage of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, submission grappling, and MMA, as well as lifestyle articles on surfing, cars, movies, and more. Gladiator Magazine is available at any major bookstore and online at BJJMart.com or Jiu Jitsu Pro Gear.

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 http://americantopteam.com/.

BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Wrestling 411, providing coverage of the sport of wrestling on TV, the Internet, and radio. Wrestling 411 is produced by Media Sports Productions, whose sole mission is the marketing and promotion of the sport of wrestling.

FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, HBO, Joshua Clottey, Kristal Hart, Madison Square Garden, Miguel Cotto, MSG, New York, No Holds Barred, SecondsOut Radio

NO HOLDS BARRED on PodOmatic

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman begins by outlining the history leading up to the present logjam in boxing's storied light heavyweight division. While IBF light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson remained unbeaten this past Saturday night, May 9, by winning a unanimous decision in his rematch with Antonio Tarver, his performance failed to win many accolades or lay the groundwork for a fight with other top light heavyweights such as Bernard Hopkins or Glen Johnson. Once again, boxing's politics have driven this division into the quicksand.

On May 30, one of the rising stars of the welterweight division, 25-year-old WBC champion Andre Berto (24-0, 19 KOs), will defend his belt against the 28-year-old reigning IBF junior welterweight champion, Juan Urango (21-1-1, 16 KOs). This fight will take place in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and be shown live in the U.S. on HBO.

At a recent prefight news conference at the new Yankee Stadium, we had a chance to discuss this fight with Andre Berto, Juan Urango, and Urango's trainer, Evangelista Cotto. You can hear that all right here on No Holds Barred.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.

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Labels: Andre Berto, Antonio Tarver, Bernard Hopkins, boxing, Chad Dawson, Eddie Goldman, Evangelista Cotto, Glen Johnson, HBO, Joe Calzaghe, Juan Urango, light heavyweight, No Holds Barred, Tavoris Cloud