NO HOLDS BARRED

Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, George Orwell, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred, sports, The Sporting Spirit

by Eddie Goldman

About a year ago, on January 31, 2017, Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko held a press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York to announce what turned out to be their classic fight on April 29 of that year. Many boxing media types, including several from outside the U.S., covered it. Before the press conference formally started, I was chatting with Gareth Davies of the Telegraph of the U.K., and he asked me what I thought of Joshua, whose career he had been covering for some time. I told him that Joshua had the potential to become as popular as Muhammad Ali was, and his eyes lit up. What an analysis from an American, it appeared he was thinking, about the Briton Joshua, who still has never fought in the U.S. Most of the American media there seemed more concerned by the absence of a buffet at the press conference than the world historical potential of this fight. What I said made headlines in the U.K. and elsewhere, as it laid out the possibility of a major cultural development for boxing and for Joshua and his career.

Reflecting back a year later, we have learned much more about Anthony Joshua, both in and out of the ring, and are in a better position to evaluate that prediction.

It should be obvious that in 2017, Anthony Joshua became universally recognized as a star in boxing. His fight with Klitschko established him in virtually everyone's eyes as the top heavyweight in the world today, and thus, the baddest man on the planet. By defeating Klitschko, Joshua became a unified heavyweight champion, adding the WBA belt to his IBF belt. This fight, almost universally celebrated as the 2017 fight of the year, drew 90,000 fans to Wembley Stadium in London, set pay-per-view records in the U.K., and had widespread international TV coverage including in Germany and in the U.S., where both Showtime and HBO aired it, with the latter showing it on same-day, tape-delay. His next fight, on October 28 against late replacement Carlos Takam, also was seen by 78,000 fans at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, which is where he will return March 31 for a title unification fight against unbeaten WBO champ Joseph Parker of New Zealand. Besides being a pay-per-view staple in the U.K., both Showtime and HBO are bidding against one another to air his fights in America.

But being a star is not the same as being as popular as Muhammad Ali, who very clearly valued his influence and accomplishments outside the ring more than what he did inside the ring. Joshua seems to share that view, although he has not yet fully and publicly shared his views on broader issues outside of boxing. And because Joshua has established himself as a sports star does not mean that, even if he unifies all the major heavyweight titles, that he will be regarded as Ali was.

It is well-known, and thus not worth repeating in detail, that at the peak of his career, Ali was illegally stripped of his title and banned from fighting in the U.S. because of his refusal to be drafted into the U.S. Army on the grounds of being a conscientious objector and Muslim minister. He became a symbol of resistance to the U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam, and also for the Black Liberation, civil rights, and anti-war movements in general. Ali was thus lauded as "The People's Champion". When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction and he was allowed to fight again, his matches, especially with rivals Joe Frazier and George Foreman, became major international cultural and even political events.

Joshua, who is 28 years old, is now 20-0 with 20 KOs, Ali's 20th fight, at just 22 years of age, was in 1964 and his first victory over Sonny Liston. It is still a source of controversy as many continue to assert that Liston took a dive in that fight and also their rematch. It was after that first fight with Liston that Ali announced he had changed his name from Cassius Clay, and was a member of the Nation of Islam. Accompanying him to the fight were Malcolm X, football great and activist Jim Brown, and the legendary rock 'n' roll and soul singer Sam Cooke, who also had his own beef with the record industry.

While Joshua has not been embroiled in the type of controversies the Ali-Liston fights had, he also has not taken as radical a path as Ali. While today's political situation does have some parallels to the 1960s, there are not the same types of broad mass radical movements in the West as there were then.

But there still is plenty of protest in sports, especially in the past couple of years. In the U.S., the "take-a-knee" movement initiated by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick against racist police killings and brutality has garnered wide support as well as wide opposition. Other American athletes from the NFL and NBA, and especially women basketball players from the WNBA, have shown their support of it. And even in boxing there has been some open support. WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder, who one day soon may face Joshua in a unification bout, spoke about how he might, too, take a knee during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, or at least express some type of support for this movement. Former welterweight champion Andre Berto has been outspoken on these issues, as have other fighters, and even on occasion Trump supporter Don King.

The charade that sports and politics are and always have been completely separate has largely ended in the U.S., but not as much in the U.K. Still Joshua has given some clues as to his political leanings, albeit short and incomplete analyses.

He was recently interviewed by the U.K.'s ITV News and said he would like to play a role in politics, although he added, "I'm not trying to run the country." He indicated he wants to change the tax system to allow people who pay high taxes to have more of a direct say over how their money is spent. Where this even puts him on the U.K. political spectrum is as unclear as is how to implement this suggestion.

The brief interview also included a comment on the U.K.'s NHS, its National Health Service. The NHS has had a major crisis, especially this winter, with years of underfunding, cuts, and privatization leading to the cancellation of tens of thousands of operations and outpatient appointments until at least the end of January, and major overcrowding in hospitals. But Joshua did not address these types of fundamental issues. Instead he implied that a key problem facing the NHS was people flooding its emergency resources over very minor problems, like simply cutting a finger, and thus there is a need to "educate" them about what the NHS is used for.

This is hardly a platform that would make Joshua the next Darcus Howe, the late British Black radical leader and media personality. And we also have no idea just what Joshua thinks on some of the top issues in the U.K., such as Brexit, immigration, and the economy.

What we have so far seen of Joshua in the cultural sphere is quite tame and respectable as well. He has hob-nobbed with England's Prince Harry, writing on social media only half-jokingly that he would like to be his best man at his wedding. He frequently appears on the BBC late night comedy talk show hosted by Graham Norton, where he also schmoozed with American actor Tom Hanks. In November he was in Dubai for the Dubai Fitness Challenge. And he has a growing list of mainstream sponsors.

In his press conference last week to announce the Parker fight, Joshua was a bit more agitated and less respectful than he has been previously. Parker and his camp had trash talked him beforehand, saying he had a glass jaw and was a "king of steroids", thus leading Joshua to respond, although again he did not descend to the level of trash talking.

Joshua said, "It will take more than a human to stop me from where I'm destined to be." He explained just when he had been knocked down and knocked out as an amateur, including in 2011 against British fighter David Price, the same day, he said, he had just "come out of a police cell", in the tail end of the days when Joshua was still getting in trouble with the law. Later promoter Eddie Hearn listed the numerous random drug tests Joshua has taken and still is subject to, in none of which he has tested positive for PEDs.

Parker later apologized for his steroid accusation, and at the press conference Joshua reversed an earlier statement saying he would refuse to shake Parker's hand after their fight. Thus the temptation to follow the path of WWE, UFC, and the rest has been avoided for now.

The British tabloids continue to write about Joshua, almost every day. He is also often a hot topic in the African media, although some articles reflect such low journalistic standards that they incorrectly say Joshua was born in Nigeria, when he was born in Watford, England. Nigeria is where he did live for some time as a child, where his mother was born, and where his father, who is of Nigerian and Irish descent, still lives.

Taken together, all this makes Anthony Joshua an international star and a celebrity, but not yet a hero.

Muhammad Ali achieved iconic status not simply by becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. He did it by risking all that fame and fortune by standing up for what he believed in, and thus had his boxing career taken away from him at its height and when he was in his prime. Ali later was vindicated, but not before facing a barrage of scorn, demonization, and opposition far greater that even Colin Kaepernick has had. Ali was also abandoned by almost all the so-called great boxing and sports journalists of his era, with the notable exception of Howard Cosell and a few others.

We just do not know publicly what Joshua's views are on the major issues of the day in the U.K. and the world.

There was a minor controversy in December about a series of private messages attributed to Joshua by former heavyweight title challenger Eddie Chambers, which were posted online. They appeared to come from Joshua's social media accounts, and denounced Chambers as a "bum" and a "Disgrace to the superior black race".

None of this has ever been fully explained by Joshua or his camp. We do know that these messages were sent while Joshua was still on vacation in Dubai. If he did send these himself, was he just joking, trolling, being an asshole, or serious? Or did someone else send these messages, and with or without Joshua's knowledge and permission? Do they indicate that Joshua secretly is a Black nationalist of some sort, or just messing with Chambers in an unsettling way?

On the other hand, we also know that in the past, Joshua has publicly called himself to journalist Oma Akatugba a "citizen of the world" and punctuated his comments by saying: "One love. Peace".

Whatever all this indicates, if anything, it does mean that Joshua the star and celebrity has a long way to go if he ever will become a hero and an outspoken foe of injustice and oppression like Ali was.

That, by the way, is merely an observation and not a criticism. There is not today the kind of mass movement which supported Ali when he was attacked and vilified. This mass movement even helped give birth to Ali's one-time radicalism, which he did not publicly reveal until after the first Liston fight.

Does Joshua share any of these types of views, or is he perhaps less political than Ali and even pretty mainstream in his views? Or is there something brewing there that will one day come out of a fighter, whose right shoulder bears a tattoo of the map of Africa with Nigeria's borders outlined, and the word "Wisdom" written above it? And what exactly can Joshua do and say today without jeopardizing and even killing his boxing career, at a time when vindication may be even less certain than it was for Ali?

And always be aware that while notable individuals can and do certainly influence events and history, it is primarily the times that make the people, and not vice versa.

Anthony Joshua has taken the first steps to ensuring worldwide stardom. We shall see whether or not out-of-the-ring heroism follows.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred

Muhammad Ali
January 17, 1942 - June 3, 2016

A year after his passing, I have been startled to see the type of new tributes to Muhammad Ali that have appeared. It is not just that these tributes have come now, but that they are so passionate and emotional. There is the tribute by the Syrian hip-hop group Black Bannerz, and the video by Andre Ward, to cite the most impressive ones I've seen.

Yeah, we thought we had seen and heard it all about Ali, right?

But then the filthy Trump got elected, and all sorts of hatred and bigotry burst forth into public view and was made acceptable by very powerful forces. Add to this the regular reports of mass killings, terrorist attacks, and unending wars, and the humanity and humor of Muhammad Ali seem like they were from another world. Maybe, in a sense, they were.

We also have few real heroes in sport or anything else today, so we mourn his loss even more than we might in different circumstances, in a world which was appearing to resolve its crises without compounding them.

It is not so much that we haven't healed from his long-expected death, but that the world today seems to lack anyone like him, or, more importantly, the hope and love he embodied.

The world sure needs you today, champ.





Ali VT - Master (Non TX) from David Finch on Vimeo.

Labels: Eddie Goldman, Muhammad Ali, One Year After His Passing

by Eddie Goldman

Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua does not want to be mentioned alongside the likes of Muhammad Ali.

"Can I ever see a time that it will be Ali, Foreman, Holmes, Joshua? Nah," the 27-year-old heavyweight champ reportedly said.

"There are too many opinions now. They didn't give Klitschko the respect he deserves, you know what I mean. I just try and keep some distance from it and stay in my own lane," he went on.

"As long as I'm happy, that's what matters. I'm not perfect but what I do, I do good. I'll keep improving on it and if that's good enough to get me through in boxing, then I'll be satisfied. I know I can get better."

Despite his most modest self-assessment, there are many of us who argue that he is precisely suited to become potentially as big as was The Greatest.

Back on January of this year, in what now seems like a different and earlier era in boxing, you just didn't hear comparisons of Anthony Joshua and Muhammad Ali. At the January 31 Joshua-Klitschko news conference in New York hyping their April 29 bout, when I told Gareth Davies of the UK's Telegraph that Joshua had the potential to become as popular as Ali, this view ended up exploding onto headlines in the British and Irish media.

Now, after Joshua's momentous and historic 11th round TKO victory over Klitschko this past Saturday before 90,000 fans in London's Wembley Stadium, such comparisons are flooding the general sports and sports business media.

Yes, visions of this fight may still be sharp in many people's minds and the emotions it evoked may still be powerful just days after it made its way into boxing, sports, and cultural history. But that does not mean that these comparisons, and the projection that Joshua could become the next Ali, are simply infatuations which will fade in less giddy times.

Nicely juxtaposed photos of Joshua standing over a downed Klitschko alongside Ali standing over a downed Sonny Liston in similar poses have been plastered all over the British media.

No less than the business publication SportsBusiness Daily, whose audience is far different from that of the British tabloids which promise secret shots of naked celebrities, ran a piece called Anthony Joshua Drawing Comparisons To Muhammad Ali.

Sure, Joshua is only 19-0 with 19 knockouts, with a growing queue of undefeated fighters vying to fight him, including Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury, Joseph Parker, and Luis Ortiz. But do you know what Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, did in his 19th fight? After being knocked down in the fourth round, he stopped Henry Cooper in the fifth -- before 35,000 people in Wembley Stadium. The more noteworthy, and still controversial, fights with then-heavyweight champion Sonny Liston were fights numbers 20 and 21 in Ali's career.

Of course, besides his years of heroics in the ring, Ali was both adored and hated for what he did outside the ring. (At a media event in 2002 to publicize a one-off Ali magazine, before a crowd of New York boxing and media types I asked Ali which he was proudest of, his accomplishments in the ring or outside the ring. To the amazement of almost everyone except me, he said, in what was left of his voice, "outside the ring.")

Ali's conviction for his refusal to be drafted into the US Army on the grounds that he was a conscientious objector on religious grounds, later overturned by the US Supreme Court, and his stern denunciation of American aggression in Vietnam as racist, led him, then with a record of 29-0, to be stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from boxing by the devils who control it. Almost all the mainstream writers of this supposed classic era of sportswriting condemned him and even refused to call him by his chosen name, Muhammad Ali, with the most notable exception in the mainstream media being Howard Cosell.

He also proudly and loudly trumpeted the Black separatist line of the Nation of Islam he believed at that time, and even broke ties with his mentor Malcolm X, whom many believe was assassinated in a plot concocted with the cooperation and/or participation of Nation of Islam leadership. Ali did later admit regret for his break with Malcolm and apologize to Malcolm's family, and the most moving speaker at Ali's 2016 funeral was the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, Attallah Shabazz.

While Ali's political views clearly moderated after he broke with the Nation of Islam and became a more traditional Sunni Muslim, and culturally he was more or less mainstreamed, he remains an icon for those struggling against war, oppression, exploitation, and discrimination around the world.

What do we know of Anthony Joshua's political beliefs? Not much, publicly at least. What he thinks of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, or Trump, Le Pen, Macron, Putin, Assad, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-un, or the 2015 elections in Nigeria, has not been publicized. Where he stands on Brexit, refugees, and LGBT rights is also not publicly known.

But we do know that he is trying to be, whether he calls it that or not, a humanist.

Shortly after defeating American Charles Martin in April 2016 to win the IBF heavyweight belt, his first major world title, Joshua was interviewed by Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba at the 2016 Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin. In that video, which has recently gone viral, Joshua, with a laugh, said "the secret of the success" was that he eats the popular Nigerian dishes of eba, pounded yam, and egusi soup.

But more seriously he addressed the issue of his nationality. His mother, Yeta Odusanya (with whom he still lives), is from Nigeria, and his father, Robert, is of Nigerian and Irish descent. He was born in Watford in the UK, but spent part of his youth in Nigeria.

Asked whether he considers his nationality Nigerian or British and "Where does your heart lie?" his response was this:

"We're citizens of the world. All this political stuff where this is British, this is Nigerian, this is -- we're citizens of the world. That's the most important thing. But my heart is with Nigeria, my heart is with Britain. I'm a Nigerian man by blood, yes."

Joshua the internationalist is already a worldwide attraction for boxing and sports fans viewing his fights in many parts of the planet. The Joshua-Klitschko fight was reportedly screened in 140 countries.

According to numerous media reports, promoter Eddie Hearn has already claimed that this fight has shattered the UK record for pay-per-view buys, with numbers still coming in. In Germany, where it was aired it on the RTL network and not pay-per-view, the fight had an average viewership of 10.43 million people. In Poland, where it aired on Polsat Sport, the average viewership was 920,000. It also aired in Russia on Match TV, with no figures available at this time.

In the US, which is becoming more and more a backwater of boxing, the premium cable networks Showtime, which has a deal with Joshua, and HBO, which has a deal with Klitschko, wrangled for months over how to share the TV rights for this fight. They only announced their arrangement less than two weeks before the fight itself, with Showtime airing it live, meaning in the afternoon in the US, and HBO showing a replay that night. Even with all the delays which no doubt handcuffed the proper marketing of this fight in the US, both telecasts drew impressive numbers.

The live Showtime telecast averaged 659,000, and peaked at 763,000, amazing numbers for a fight outside the US that started at about 5 PM EDT/ 2 PM PDT.

One might think that viewership would be hurt for the HBO replay because the results, recaps, analyses, and even YouTube videos could be easily found by anyone who has ever seen the letters "http". Nevertheless, the replay averaged 738,000 viewers on HBO and peaked at 890,000 - making it higher than any of HBO's live boxing shows this year.

Just imagine the number of viewers in the US if the TV suits had put it live on the free CBS broadcast network instead of on premium cable on Showtime. On CBS at the time of the fight was a live broadcast of golf (lol), whose organizers booked the time months in advance, unlike the boxing promoters whose anarchic system requires a separate deal for every fight. This golf showing got 1.5 million viewers, surely far fewer than a well-publicized live broadcast of this fight would have received.

Now Anthony Joshua is in demand all over the world. He reportedly turned down an offer to do a blitz of appearances on American TV talk shows this week, preferring to stay in the UK with his family and friends, and also prepare for some public appearances there.

The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that he will soon invite Anthony Joshua to Nigeria.

Anthony Joshua is indeed a citizen of the world, as was Muhammad Ali, and his reign as the universally regarded top heavyweight in the world is just starting. But unlike Ali, his ascendance to an iconic status like him will not be as dependent on him being recognized as such as widely in America. "America First" hysteria may work for Trump voters, but not in world boxing.

Back at that January 31 news conference, I asked Joshua how he was handling all the hoopla around him and talk about him being the future of boxing. He replied by summing up his situation, matter-of-factly:

"I think it's just going to come with the territory, provided I keep on winning. If I'm getting banged down in my next five fights, we don't hear this talk anymore. So I think, right now I'm winning. This is what we'll continue to hear. Boxing is all based on winning. Boxing is based on winning. It's not as if, 'Oh, he lost three fights. That's good, and ....' Nah. It's based on winning. If I'm winning, we'll talk about unification. We'll talk about Vegas. If I'm not winning, the next man comes up and takes that position."

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Muhammad Ali

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman reports from kickoff news conference of the newly-created World Boxing Super Series, which was held March 9 in New York.

The basic format of this ambitious project is to have two annual 16-man tournaments in different weight classes to crown winners of the Muhammad Ali Trophy, which was made with the support of the family of the late heavyweight champion and worldwide sports icon. They aim not to supplant the various sanctioning bodies and promoters, but to add this new tournament to the existing events held around the world in boxing, and to create "the greatest prize in boxing". Half of the fights are planned for Europe with the other half for the U.S.

No fighters were at this news conference, nor were the specific weight classes for the inaugural tournament mentioned, although they do plan a drawing for the tournaments and seeding at an event planned for June, with the first fights in September of this year.

The fighters, they said, will be chosen from among the top 15-ranked fighters in the four major sanctioning bodies. Those much-criticized rankings include many different levels of fighters, but the World Boxing Super Series organizers are hopeful that the total of $50 million U.S. dollars to be awarded in prize money to the fighters, with as much as $1 million for winners of the quarterfinals, will be enough to attract all but a handful of top tier fighters who already make that or more. This will also require the cooperation of various promoters and managers, which has often proved difficult to impossible, but again their hope is that money talks.

The four speakers at this news conference were:

-- Matthew Hooper, executive vice president of Modern Times Group (MTG), which is a major shareholder in Comosa AG, which owns the World Boxing Super Series. MTG is a major digital entertainment company based in Sweden, and is involved in TV, radio, online networks, gambling, and eSports.

-- Roberto Dalmiglio, Comosa's Head of Management Board, and group commercial director at media rights company MP & Silva, which is handling media rights outside of Scandinavia and the U.S. MP & Silva manages the sports TV rights for about 10,000 hours of programming to some 500 broadcasters globally, including the FIFA World Cup rights, senior European football leagues, Grand Slam tennis, motor racing, and more.

-- Kalle Sauerland, Comosa's Chief Boxing Officer, who is also a major boxing promoter with Sauerland Promotion, based in Europe.

-- Richard Schaefer, Comosa's Chairman of the Americas, and a long-time boxing promoter and now the chairman and CEO of Ringstar Sports.

To discuss all this, we spoke at this news conference with Kalle Sauerland. We also present the complete audio from the news conference itself, and discuss the prospects for the World Boxing Super Series to succeed.

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 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 sponsored by:

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: Comosa, Eddie Goldman, Kalle Sauerland, Matthew Hooper, MP & Silva, MTG, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred, Richard Schaefer, Roberto Dalmiglio, World Boxing Super Series

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, Eddie Hearn, Kristal Hart, and Bob Carson at the January 31 press conference at Madison Square Garden for the April 29 fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.

The 27-year-old Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who holds the IBF heavyweight belt, will face the veteran former champion Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), who will be 41 at the time of the fight, at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London. This fight, which is also for a WBA title, will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and in Germany on RTL, with record viewership likely on each. As of now, both Showtime and HBO are vying for the U.S. TV rights.

As part of a world tour to promote this fight, both Joshua and Klitschko held this New York press conference January 31, along with Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, and Bernd Boente of KMG Management Group. The press conference was hosted by announcer Adam Smith of Sky Sports.

Some photos from the press conference can be seen here.

In addition to speaking with Joshua, Klitschko, and Hearn, we spoke with two media members who were covering this press conference. First was Kristal Hart of "The Kristal Hart Show" on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Next was Bob Carson of "Carson's Corner" on BlogTalkRadio. Besides the fight itself and its boxing context, we discussed why this is the biggest fight in the world this year, and if Anthony Joshua can become the next Muhammad Ali.

(Photo of Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, and Bernd Boente by Ed Mulholland, Matchroom Boxing, K2 Promotions, KMG Management Group.)

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 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 sponsored by:

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, Bob Carson, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Eddie Hearn, Kristal Hart, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred, Wladimir Klitschko

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses whether 2017 will be the year that IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) becomes the most popular boxer in the world and the best known since Muhammad Ali. Joshua's next fight is April 29 against former champion Wladimir Klitschko, at London's historic Wembley Stadium. We also discuss some parallels between Joshua's rise to prominence and Muhammad Ali's, the anti-Muslim bigotry Joshua has faced, Joshua's international appeal, whether he can restore boxing's heavyweight championship to being the most prestigious title in all of sports, how 2016 was a breakthrough year for Joshua, what we can expect from the Joshua-Klitschko fight, and much more.

(Photo of Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium by Lawrence Lustig.)

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 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 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 TheBoxingTribune.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

USA Combat Wrestling, the official U.S. governing body for combat wrestling and U.S. delegate of the International Combat Wrestling Federation (FICW), which was founded by the legendary wrestler Noriaki Kiguchi of Japan. For more information, go to CombatWrestling.us.

Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred, Wladimir Klitschko

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the life and times of "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali, who passed away Friday, June 3, at the age of 74. Discussed are how Ali was in essence a man of his times, how he transcended boxing and all sports in a way that has not been seen before or since, the historical context in which he developed as a person and as a boxer, his ties with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, his relationship to the Black Liberation Movement, how his opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam was vindicated, 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 available at Google Play Music.

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 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Sunday, July 3, 2016, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance and co-sponsored by IAWrestle, the Frank Gotch Statue Committee, and the Frank Gotch Kids Wrestling Club, the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

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: Black Liberation Movement, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Greatest, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, No Holds Barred

Eddie Goldman of No Holds Barred and videographer, musician, and teacher Ian Carpenter were guests on the nationally-syndicated "Joey Reynolds Show" late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, May 4/5. Eddie Goldman is also the boxing correspondent for the "Joey Reynolds Show".

We had another fast-paced and lively discussion with Joey covering numerous topics. We discussed and critiqued the new documentary film on Mike Tyson, and the "One World Champion" video produced by Eddie and Ian. Ian spoke about his own background. Also among the topics we touched on were the movie business; why so much media today is so short; the Art of War Fighting Championship mixed martial arts event coming up May 23 in Beijing, China; boxer John Duddy; the wonderful Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight of May 2; boxing and martial arts; the continuing appeal of Muhammad Ali; and, of course, roller derby.

You can play or download this 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 midnight 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: Art of War, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Ian Carpenter, Joey Reynolds, John Duddy, Manny Pacquiao, martial arts, media, Mike Tyson, mixed martial arts, MMA, Muhammad Ali, Ricky Hatton, WOR

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman discusses the fourth-round knockout victory by heavyweight Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs) over the veteran former title challenger, Jameel McCline (39-10-3, 23 KOs), Saturday, April 11, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We examine Arreola's career, the potential for him to get a title shot against WBC champion Vitali Klitschko, how he might fare, how he has strong support from the boxing establishment, but also how he may be blowing the opportunity of a lifetime by not training properly and continuing to come into the ring carrying too much weight.

In addition, we critique some of the historical analysis in the HBO documentary on the Ali-Frazier 3 "Thrilla in Manila" fight.

It is free to listen to or download SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

Labels: boxing, Chris Arreola, Eddie Goldman, HBO, heavyweights, Jameel McCline, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, SecondsOut Radio, Thrilla in Manila

SecondsOut Radio with Eddie Goldman

On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by commenting on the need to honor the legacy of one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, Joe Frazier. We also spoke with Smokin' Joe himself last year at a Madison Square Garden ceremony retiring their ring.

The New York State Athletic Commission has a new head, and she is longtime boxing judge Melvina Lathan. We spoke with her at a ceremony held Friday, July 25, at the Police Athletic League in Harlem, New York, officially announcing her appointment. We also have the statements both she and New York Governor David Paterson made at this ceremony.

It is free to listen to SecondsOut Radio, but you must register to gain access to it. Just click here, and listen, learn, and enjoy.

Labels: boxing, David Paterson, Eddie Goldman, Joe Frazier, Melvina Lathan, Muhammad Ali, New York State Athletic Commission, No Holds Barred, Ron Scott Stevens