Wednesday, January 21, 2015
No Holds Barred: Ken Shamrock, Bare-Knuckle Boxer
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with MMA pioneer and legend Ken Shamrock.
A veteran of the early days of MMA, the first King of Pancrase, and known especially for his skill with submissions, Ken Shamrock, now 50 years old, is embarking on yet another pioneering venture: to become a champion in bare-knuckle boxing.
His debut fight is slated to take place this April in the U.K. against bare-knuckle boxing legend James Quinn, at a date and location to be announced. It is also planned for this fight to be shown on pay-per-view, with details forthcoming.
We spoke with Ken Shamrock by phone Tuesday.
Just like he articulately defended MMA in its formative days against various detractors, Ken Shamrock is defending this latest incarnation of bare-knuckle boxing, both for its relative safety and as an art form.
Gloves in both boxing and MMA were introduced, he said, "under the same myth that I believe, is to try and make it safer. And I thought to myself, 'Safer for who?'"
He explained, "It's really not to protect the guy getting punched. It's really to protect the guy that's doing the punching and make it more exciting for the fans to get more knockouts and be able to have the fighters sustain their career longer without breaking their hands and having to retire."
Bare-knuckle boxing, he said, makes "fighters become more articulate and more accurate and more cautious about letting their hands fly, holding back some of the power that they may have, to be able to land strikes that are going to be perfect and not miss their target. Because if they do, the consequences are whether they could lose the fight because they broke their hand."
Similarly, he argued that when gloves were brought into MMA, "They took away the purity of submissions," and made it harder to win by submission.
We also discussed how he feels "rejuvenated" and "better than I have in the last 15 years", how bare-knuckle boxing is legal in the U.K. although unregulated, the development of the rules for this 21st century version of bare-knuckle boxing, why MMA today only has an "edge" in safety over gloved boxing, why history shows that bare-knuckle boxing is safer than gloved boxing, why bare-knuckle boxing will be "more exciting" than MMA, his views on the potential of submission wrestling and catch wrestling, his plans for training for this fight, and much more.
In addition, we commented on the passing of another MMA pioneer, Phyllis Lee, who was known as the "First Lady of NHB".
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.
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Labels: bare-knuckle, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Ken Shamrock, MMA, No Holds Barred
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
No Holds Barred: Agbeko-Mares Preview; Bare-Knuckle Boxing and MMA and Safety
On this audio edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the finals of the Showtime bantamweight tournament featuring IBF champ Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Abner Mares, and discusses the myth that wearing gloves in boxing and MMA makes those sports safer.
This Saturday, August 13, IBF bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) will fight the unbeaten Abner Mares (21-0-1, 13 KOs) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a bout postponed from April when Agbeko fell victim to an attack of sciatica. Now that Agbeko is fully recovered, this much-anticipated fight will conclude the four-man Showtime bantamweight tournament.
We spoke with Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Abner Mares on a recent media conference call about the effects of this postponement and what to expect in this fight.
The issue of bare-knuckle fighting has recently come to the fore with the bare-knuckle boxing match between Bobby Gunn and Richard Stewart at the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Casino and Hotel in Fountain Hill, Arizona, outside Scottsdale, on August 5, 2011. This appeared to be a planned mismatch in favor of Gunn, who won by third-round knockout, and the health and safety standards were suspect since no member of the Association of Boxing Commissions was regulating it.
However, the condemnation of this bare-knuckle contest by the Association of Boxing Commissions and others raises the issue of the relative safety of sports like boxing and MMA when they are conducted as bare-knuckle fights compared to when the fighters are required to wear gloves.
Dr. Allan J. Ryan, considered to be a co-founder of the field of sports medicine in 1945, wrote an article in 1983 called "Eliminate Boxing Gloves". He also argued that "In 100 years of bare-knuckle fighting in the United States, which terminated around 1897 with a John L Sullivan heavyweight championship fight, there wasn't a single ring fatality."
We thus re-ignite this discussion about which is safer for the athletes in both boxing and MMA, fighting with or without gloves.
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.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
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/.
The American Sambo Association, which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com.
Labels: Abner Mares, bare-knuckle, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Joseph Agbeko, MMA, No Holds Barred
