NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the next round of fights for the top tier of heavyweights. Fresh from being stopped in the seventh round by Tyson Fury in their Feb. 22 rematch, Deontay Wilder has reportedly exercised the clause in the contract for that fight for a third fight between these two to take place. The reported working date is July 18. That pushes back any potential fight between the consensus top two heavyweights, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. And it means that Joshua's next fight will thus be against his mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev. That one is scheduled for June 20 in London.

Why my reaction, and the reaction of most who follow boxing, is meh, bleh, and feh, is discussed and analyzed.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available at Apple Podcasts.

No Holds Barred is also available on Spotify.

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 sponsored by:

LenneHardt.com, the home of Lenne Hardt, the legendary MMA and sports announcer, voice actor, singer, actress, and comedienne. Lenne is also known for her jazz vocals with her Lenne Hardt Jazz Cabaret Band. For more information, to book her, or to order a custom message from her, go to LenneHardt.com.

Skullz Combat Sports Equipment, creator of the patented Skullz Double-End Bag, is the perfect punching bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve speed, distance, and timing skills. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. Skullz Combat Sports Equipment - Advancing combat sports equipment for the next generation of fighters. For more information, go to https://instagram.com/skullzcombatsports and https://facebook.com/skullzcombatsports.

Adolphina Studios. Original art prints and handcrafted fine jewelry. For more information, go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdolphinaStudios.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Deontay Wilder, Eddie Goldman, heavyweight, Kubrat Pulev, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view, Tyson Fury

by Eddie Goldman

Only because I was already up and doing things -- a rarity for me on a Monday or any other morning -- I watched the live stream of the Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev press conference.

Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs), who turns 28 on October 15, defends his IBF and WBA heavyweight belts against the IBF mandatory Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs), who turns 37 on September 19. This fight takes place October 28 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, U.K., where this press conference also took place.

Basically it was quite a civil and non-eventful press conference. No chairs or tables were tossed, no punches were thrown, and the language was quite fit for both newspapers and TV.

They will no doubt fill the building, which hosts rugby, football, and other events, has a retractable roof, and has a maximum capacity of 74,500. They will also do well on the U.K. pay-per-view on Sky Sports Box Office, without the staged hysteria and theatrics typical of those combat sports events which imitate the sordid W"W"E.

There were a few interesting things, though. Promoter Eddie Hearn, in touting Pulev as a worthy challenger for Joshua, said, according to The Ring, whose nickname he noted as "The Bible of Boxing", Pulev was ranked as a heavyweight only behind Joshua and WBC champ Deontay Wilder. I didn't bother to check this propaganda sheet for Golden Boy, but if that is true, where do they rank former Golden Boy fighter and unbeaten WBA mandatory Luis "King Kong" Ortiz? If you aren't already a non-believer, or at least a boxing atheist, this should make you one.

Also, so far there is no official word on if or when Showtime, with whom Joshua is contracted, will show this in the U.S. A live telecast from Wales would mean it would start on Showtime in the U.S. in the afternoon, about 5 PM EDT. But as of now, the schedule for Showtime's main channel lists a marathon of their series "Shameless" for that time. Perhaps, since it is still Monday morning here, they are still asleep.

And if you must see it, although it apparently isn't on the Sky Sports Boxing web site, a video of this press conference is already on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/UAUOwnjeQ8M

Now it's time for me to catch up on watching last night's episodes of "The Orville", "Insecure", and "Ray Donovan".

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Kubrat Pulev, No Holds Barred, press conference

by Eddie Goldman

As a follow-up to my latest show, "No Holds Barred: A Sweet But Dysfunctional September for Boxing", which was posted early Monday, September 4, as anticipated there has been a flurry of announcements Tuesday, September 5. Most of these seem to be quite late in coming.

One of the worst kept secrets in boxing was that on Saturday, October 28, heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will defend his belts against his IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev. That fight has now been officially announced. Joshua had wanted to have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, whom he defeated on April 29 in a classic fight by 11th-round TKO, but the 41-year-old Klitschko decided to retire instead.

The Joshua-Pulev fight will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office. Joshua is also contracted to fight on Showtime in the U.S. There was no accompanying announcement about this, so we shall see if they show this fight, and either live or on tape-delay.

While the September 16 Golovkin-Canelo fight was long ago announced as being shown on HBO pay-per-view in the U.S., details of how to watch it in the U.K. on BoxNation have just come out.

From BoxNation:

"'Canelo' Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin on September 16th is exclusively live in the U.K. and Ireland on BoxNation Box Office from just £16.95/€21.95.

"BoxNation's current paying subscribers, and any new customers that wish to subscribe instead of buying it via Box Office, will get the fight as part of their monthly subscription at no extra cost."

The World Boxing Super Series has finally announced a U.K. TV deal, just four days before their first card takes place. These fights will be on ITV, both free-to-air and pay-per-view. But there still is no word on if they will get a TV deal in the U.S.

From the World Boxing Super Series press release:

"MP & Silva are delighted to announce a media rights agreement with ITV to showcase the inaugural 2017/18 season of the World Boxing Super Series starting September 9. ITV will exclusively cover 16 elite boxers competing across 14 different Fight Nights all over the world to see who will claim the Muhammad Ali Trophy.

"The Super Middleweight and Cruiserweight tournaments will be shown on a combination of ITV's free-to-air and pay-per-view platforms with the second Quarter-Final Fight Night featuring Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund from Liverpool's Echo Arena to be shown live on ITV4 on September 16.

"The World Boxing Super Series will be of more particular interest to the British audience this season with Chris Eubank Jr. fighting Turkish Avni Yildirim and the all British duel between George Groves and Jamie Cox at The SSE Arena, Wembley in October both being shown on ITV Box Office."

And in an announcement which already has earned the wrath of many fans online, the September 23 fight between WBO heavyweight champ Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury in Manchester, U.K., will be shown in the U.K. and Ireland as a YouTube pay-per-view. Again, there has been no announcement about showing this fight in the U.S.

From the Hennessy Sports press release:

"The blockbuster WBO World Heavyweight Championship title fight between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury on Saturday 23rd September at the Manchester Arena will be shown exclusively live in the UK and Ireland on YouTube (www.youtube.com/parkerfury) on a pay-per-view basis with further countries to be announced shortly.

"A portion of the undercard will also be streamed for free before the big fight, this is also available live on www.youtube.com/parkerfury. Watch this event anywhere online or on your smart TV, game console, PC, Mac, mobile, tablet and more for a special advance purchase offer price of only £9.99 in the UK and €11.99 in the Republic of Ireland until midnight on Sunday 17th September.*

"youtube.com/parkerfury is the home of Hennessy Sports YouTube Channel which is called The Boxing Channel presented by Hennessy Sports.

"*£14.99 in the UK and €16.99 in the R.O.I from Monday 18th September."

Overall this still seems like a pretty dysfunctional way to get fans to watch boxing. All this reliance on pay-per-view is far inferior to how most other major sports popularize their events through free TV and streaming.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Canelo, Golovkin, Hughie Fury, Joseph Parker, Kubrat Pulev, streaming, TV, World Boxing Super Series