Wednesday, October 06, 2010
No Holds Barred: Nevada State Athletic Commission Hearing on Drug Testing and Brain Health Study
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman plays the audio from the main part of the meeting on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, of the Nevada State Athletic Commission in Las Vegas, regarding changes in their drug-testing procedures, and a proposal for a free brain health study for fighters.
Following a hearing on drug-testing on June 9, 2010, the commission, once a leader in the quest for fighter safety, rebuffed the many people who have advocated that they adopt the internationally-accepted procedures of the World Anti-Doping Agency, including random and unannounced blood and urine testing for banned and dangerous substances. Instead, the commission amended their procedures merely by adding some additional analysis to their existing annual blood tests for licensing, such as measuring hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. This exposed the position of some on the commission who had argued that urine tests alone caught everything. This position has already been discredited in the medical community, since urine tests cannot at present detect cheating by use of human growth hormone and other substances. But the latest change by the commission continues to make it very easy for dope cheats to evade getting caught, since they will know exactly when they will be tested.
The commission also approved a proposal by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to conduct free brain scans and physicals for boxers and mixed martial artists over a period of several years. The purpose is to measure the effects of these combat sports on these athletes, in particular on their brains and neurological health. Where this leads is unknown, but it definitely is a step in the right direction.
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:
MMA WORLD EXPO. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City, featuring the Renzo Gracie Open No-Gi 2010 tournament, a Muay Thai tournament, MMA fighters from the Bellator Fighting Championships, training seminars, vendors, panel discussions, and more to come. The second annual MMA WORLD EXPO, in association with Madison Square Garden Sports, takes place Friday, November 12, and Saturday, November 13, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
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/.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
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Following a hearing on drug-testing on June 9, 2010, the commission, once a leader in the quest for fighter safety, rebuffed the many people who have advocated that they adopt the internationally-accepted procedures of the World Anti-Doping Agency, including random and unannounced blood and urine testing for banned and dangerous substances. Instead, the commission amended their procedures merely by adding some additional analysis to their existing annual blood tests for licensing, such as measuring hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. This exposed the position of some on the commission who had argued that urine tests alone caught everything. This position has already been discredited in the medical community, since urine tests cannot at present detect cheating by use of human growth hormone and other substances. But the latest change by the commission continues to make it very easy for dope cheats to evade getting caught, since they will know exactly when they will be tested.
The commission also approved a proposal by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to conduct free brain scans and physicals for boxers and mixed martial artists over a period of several years. The purpose is to measure the effects of these combat sports on these athletes, in particular on their brains and neurological health. Where this leads is unknown, but it definitely is a step in the right direction.
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:
MMA WORLD EXPO. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City, featuring the Renzo Gracie Open No-Gi 2010 tournament, a Muay Thai tournament, MMA fighters from the Bellator Fighting Championships, training seminars, vendors, panel discussions, and more to come. The second annual MMA WORLD EXPO, in association with Madison Square Garden Sports, takes place Friday, November 12, and Saturday, November 13, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
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/.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
Labels: doping, drug-testing, Eddie Goldman, Nevada Athletic Commission, No Holds Barred
Sunday, July 13, 2008
SecondsOut Radio: Dr. Margaret Goodman on Ringside Doctor Failures
On this week's edition of SecondsOut Radio, host Eddie Goldman begins by commenting on yet another woeful heavyweight title fight, this past Saturday's 11th-round knockout by IBF-WBO champ Wladimir Klitschko over Tony Thompson in Hamburg, Germany, and the state of the heavyweight division.
The subject of the actions and inactions of ringside physicians once again came to the fore during the June 28 Humberto Soto-Francisco Lorenzo 130-pound title fight, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. After Lorenzo had been knocked down in the fourth round and then took a knee after a barrage of punches by Soto, he was struck in the back of the head, while still down, by Soto. The fight was over, but the ringside officials took several minutes to discuss the impact of that foul by Soto, and to decide whether to award a TKO victory to Soto or to disqualify him for the foul. While all this was going on, Lorenzo was lying on the canvas, bleeding and hurt, by legal and/or illegal blows.
Dr. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist and former chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, is a long-time fighter for the health and safety of boxers. Now, she is speaking out in criticism of the failures of the ringside physicians in the Soto-Lorenzo fight, as well as in the July 5 Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres fight, also held in Las Vegas. In the latter fight, Holt was knocked down twice in the early seconds of the first round, but rallied to knock Torres out cold, all in just 61 seconds.
Dr. Goodman has also written an article entitled "A Barely Noticed Death" for an upcoming edition of The Ring. This piece focuses on the death on March 19 of this year of journeyman boxer Rafael Ortiz, who had last fought March 8 in the state of Washington, and the disgracefully inadequate prefight and postfight medical examinations he received.
This week we spoke at length with Dr. Margaret Goodman about these medical failures, and what we can do to fight for fighter safety.
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, Eddie Goldman, Francisco Lorenzo, Humberto Soto, Kendall Holt, Margaret Goodman, Nevada Athletic Commission, Rafael Ortiz, Ricardo Torres, SecondsOut Radio
