NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the new film "Concussion", a dramatization of the battles of Dr. Bennet Omalu to bring to public attention the connections between head trauma, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and NFL football.

In this film, Dr. Omalu is very ably played by Will Smith.

This stunning film, which is a must-see, premieres in the U.S. December 25.

Everybody in America, and everwhere else when it comes out, should see this film.

Dr. Omalu also recently wrote an opinion piece entitled "Don't Let Kids Play Football".

Also discussed are the establishment of the Bennet Omalu Foundation, which aims to fund research, raise awareness, provide care, and find cures for people suffering from CTE and traumatic brain injury; how this will all affect the future of the contact and combat sports; and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free 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:

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.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.
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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: Bennet Omalu, concussion, contact sports, CTE, Eddie Goldman, film, football, Foundation, NFL, No Holds Barred, Will Smith

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with catch wrestler Josh Barnett.

We spoke with him by phone Monday.

This is a very busy time for Josh Barnett, as a movie in which he is co-starring has just been released. Named "Absolution", this is an action film featuring Steven Seagal, Byron Mann, Adina Stetcu, Massimo Dobrovic, and Vinnie Jones. Josh Barnett played a "bad guy" named Colt, which he said thus far has been "the biggest role I've had" in film.

In the combat sports world, he has been busy as well. On May 9, at the Metamoris 6 grappling event, he successfully defended his heavyweight title by submitting Ryron Gracie with a toehold.

While some see antipathy between catch wrestling and jiu-jitsu, Josh Barnett expressed nothing but respect for jiu-jitsu and the Gracie family, noting that he has "always gotten along with all the Gracies."

He explained: "Yes, I am a catch wrestler. I love catch-as-catch-can wrestling. I think it's the best. I love it as a sport, and as an art form, as a wrestling style. It is what I practice what I preach, and I preach it loudly.

"But, it's not to be contrary to jiu-jitsu. That's the thing. It's not in spite of or to counteract or to diminish jiu-jitsu. I do it because it's what I love, not because I have a need for a rivalry or to put down what anybody else does. That kind of concept of a war with jiu-jitsu is really by somebody's creation on their own merit, not on my statements."

We also discussed why more people from the broader wrestling community should become involved with catch wrestling, his upcoming activities in UFC including a reality show and a September 26 fight with Roy Nelson, more film projects, his work with the California Catch Wrestling Association, and much, 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 PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free 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:

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: Absolution, BJJ, catch wrestling, Eddie Goldman, film, Gracie, jiu-jitsu, Josh Barnett, No Holds Barred

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with MMA and jiu-jitsu legend Royce Gracie.

One of his latest ventures is acting, and he is a featured actor in the new film "The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power". Although he has appeared on film before, this is the first film in which he is not playing himself.

We spoke with Royce Gracie by phone, using Google Voice, Tuesday, about this film.

"I'm a soldier," he said of his character. Several other actors with real MMA and martial arts backgrounds also appear in this film, including Roy Nelson. But the fate of Royce's character in this film is different from what we know of his real accomplishments in combat sports.

In this film, he said with a laugh, "The Scorpion King kicks my butt."

We discussed more about his role, how he had to learn sword fighting for it, how jiu-jitsu aided in this process, plans to continue his acting career, his upcoming seminars and appearances at Bellator MMA events, 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.

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: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Eddie Goldman, film, grappling, MMA, movie, No Holds Barred, Quest for Power, Royce Gracie, Scorpion King, UFC

My latest blog for the Defense Soap site, "Give Mark Schultz An Award", is up at http://blog.defensesoap.com/news/give-mark-schultz-an-award/.

Labels: award, college, Dave, Defense Soap, du Pont, Eddie Goldman, film, Foxcatcher, freestyle, Mark Schultz, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Olympics, USA, wrestling

(Photo of Dave and Mark Schultz, courtesy of Mark Schultz.)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with the 1984 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in freestyle wrestling for the U.S., a three-time NCAA Div. I wrestling champion at Oklahoma, and 1-0 MMA fighter, wrestling legend Mark Schultz.

The book of his life story, Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold, written with sportswriter David Thomas, has just been released.

The film Foxcatcher, which is a dramatization based on that book and focuses on the events surrounding the 1996 murder of his brother, fellow Olympic, world, and national champion wrestler Dave Schultz, by the crazed multi-millionaire John du Pont, was released in New York and Los Angeles November 14, and will be released in many more cities around the world in the coming weeks and months.

We spoke with Mark Schultz by Skype Wednesday.

The movie has already been widely mentioned in the film media as a major candidate for numerous Academy Award nominations. In particular, the performances of actors Steve Carell (du Pont), Channing Tatum (Mark Schultz), and Mark Ruffalo (Dave Schultz) have all been singled out as extraordinary, as well as the directing of Bennett Miller. The film is already being recognized as a major work of art, and easily the most important film ever made involving wrestling.

Speaking about the film, he said, "It's like epic. There are so many themes and undertones and metaphors."

He noted, "It's like a Greek tragedy about what happens when everything can be had at a price. And it teaches people, too -- it's about what happens when these worlds collide."

Stressing that the film's story has lessons which go far beyond the particulars of this one tragic tale, he said, "It's a movie for people who like to think."

But the film will also have an effect on the sport of wrestling, since the murder of Dave Schultz took place on du Pont's Foxcatcher estate while Dave was employed there as a wrestling coach.

The film, Mark said, "is going to make wrestling a part of pop culture."

But besides showing the countless benefits of wrestling, such as building character, molding one's body and mind through hard training, etc., the film, along with Mark's book, also demonstrates the weaknesses in the governance of the sport of wrestling. The result has been that wrestling legends like Mark and Dave Schultz, in Mark's own words in his book, "were having to stoop to rely on a lowlife like John du Pont to survive."

He also said that the most important thing to him in this whole project of this book and film is "immortalizing my brother." Few will argue that he has not succeeded in doing precisely that.

We also discussed more on what wrestling needs to do in order to become self-sustaining, the appeal of submission wrestling and catch wrestling, his training in jiu-jitsu and his one pro fight in UFC in 1996, his experience seeing his project bloom from a draft of his book into a major motion picture and autobiography, his connecting with the actors in the film and in particular with Channing Tatum, his current activities of doing public speaking and conducting seminars, and much more.

The No Holds Barred recommendation: For Mark's whole story, get the book. It is a must-read, whether or not you know much about wrestling. For a dramatization which will also go down in history, watch the film. It is a must-see.

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: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, catch, college, Dave, du Pont, Eddie Goldman, film, Foxcatcher, freestyle, Mark Schultz, MMA, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Olympics, submission, USA, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with MMA legend Frank Shamrock.

Now retired as a fighter, he is focusing on many entertainment projects, including acting. He is currently starring in a new horror short film called "Everlast". Mainly shot at YouTube Space LA, it is showing on BlackboxTV, one of YouTube's most popular horror channels, and for free, at https://youtu.be/6hAUjD3MZj0.

We spoke with Frank Shamrock by phone Friday about this film and what else he is doing.

In this film, Frank plays MMA fighter Nikolai Faust.

"I'm actually dead. I've crossed over to another world," he said of his character. "I've actually done a deal with the Devil about a decade ago to become the greatest fighter in the world. And that sort of traps me in this little parallel universe where I have to sort of live in that inter-hell and have to fight every comer that comes along, until someone takes my place, I guess. And that's what happens in the movie."

The film climaxes when Faust must take on the undefeated Angel Shepard, played by Kevin McNamara.

We discussed this film, and to what degree its underworldly theme is an allegory about the real world of MMA. We also discussed how today's movie fighting is utilizing realistic MMA techniques, how the future of martial arts and combat sports may change with a new generation becoming much more aware of the dangers of head trauma than earlier generations, what role scripted film fighting can play in satisfying the desire of many to watch fights, how this more educated next generation of fighters will change martial arts for the better, how he would "love to see" catch wrestling grow, 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.

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: catch wrestling, combat sports, Eddie Goldman, Everlast, film, Frank Shamrock, martial arts, MMA, movie, No Holds Barred, YouTube

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman reviews "Foxcatcher", both the upcoming film and the book of the same name. The film will be publicly released in the U.S. November 14, with the book coming out November 18.

The full title of the book is Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold. It was written by wrestling legend Mark Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in freestyle wrestling for the U.S., a three-time NCAA Div. I wrestling champion at Oklahoma, and who was 1-0 in MMA, along with David Thomas. More information, including how to order it, can be found here.

The book is an autobiographical account of Mark Schultz's life, including the events surrounding the murder in January 1996 of Mark Schultz's older brother and fellow Olympic gold medalist wrestler, Dave Schultz, by the multimillionaire John du Pont. The film is a dramatization of the events surrounding Mark's experiences with du Pont at the Foxcatcher wrestling facility, and Dave's murder by du Pont.

The review of the film is based on a media screening of it which was part of the New York Film Festival on Friday, October 10. The review of the book is based on an advance reading copy sent by the publisher, Dutton.

My recommendation: If you want to know all about what happened at Foxcatcher, pre-order the book by Mark Schultz. It is a must-read, whether or not you know a lot about wrestling.

As for the movie, while the acting was superb, well, if you want to know all about what happened at Foxcatcher, pre-order the book by Mark Schultz.

All these points are discussed on this edition of No Holds Barred, including what this story says about the continuing crisis in the sport of wrestling, and 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.

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: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, college, Dave, du Pont, Eddie Goldman, film, Foxcatcher, freestyle, Mark Schultz, MMA, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Olympics, submission, USA, wrestling

(Photo courtesy of Mark Schultz)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with wrestling legend Mark Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in freestyle wrestling for the U.S., a three-time NCAA Div. I wrestling champion at Oklahoma, and who was 1-0 in MMA.

He is being portrayed by the actor Channing Tatum in the upcoming film "Foxcatcher", which will focus on his life as well as the murder in January 1996 of his older brother and fellow Olympic gold medalist wrestler, Dave Schultz, by the multimillionaire John du Pont.

"Foxcatcher" is scheduled to be released in the U.S. December 20, 2013. The film is directed by the highly regarded Bennett Miller, and also stars Mark Ruffalo as Dave Schultz and Steve Carell as du Pont. It will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

In what was an epic discussion, we spoke with Mark Schultz by phone Saturday.

"In 1996, I was the head coach at Brigham Young University. And I got a call from my dad, and he said my brother had been murdered by du Pont. And it just infuriated me to just no end. And I think I destroyed everything in my office," he said.

We went on to discuss his 1993 meeting with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Rickson Gracie and their submission grappling matches, which Rickson won. That inspired Mark to begin training in jiu-jitsu, which he did under Pedro Sauer and Walt Bayless. We also discussed his one and only MMA fight, in 1996 at UFC 9, which was arranged on less than 24 hours notice and where he defeated Gary Goodridge.

His entry into wrestling in his high school years, however, was inspired by something else. He was already training in gymnastics, which he called very useful for wrestling, but had not yet hit the mat. At that time, he would regularly tangle with older brother Dave, who was even then one of the best wrestlers in the US. Mark would always lose. To "learn how to beat him up," he tried tang soo do, but after a brief and unsuccessful stint learning that, he took up wrestling. His accomplishments on the mat speak for themselves. And his win in the 1982 NCAA finals at 177 pounds over Ed Banach of Iowa is still called by many the greatest college wrestling match ever.

His love of wrestling is still evident. "Wrestling is the ultimate martial art," he said.

But the numerous problems in the sport of wrestling have continued to eat away at it, and we discussed those in depth.

"Wrestling will never die. There will always be guys out on the front lawn wrestling each other, no matter what the administrators do, no matter what the committees do. Wrestling will be around forever. It's been around thousands of years. It's going to be around till the end of time," he said.

"It's just, the people in power are the problem. They're just making dumb decisions. They just don't think big enough." He talked about the reaction by some in the wrestling establishment to this upcoming movie, with its major stars and such a highly regarded director.

"It's not big enough for them. So, blackball me."

He explained how when he wrestled, there was no money in it, even for the top wrestlers in the world in the US, and many were "forced into poverty." There was little or no help from USA Wrestling or elsewhere, so "That's why I went to Foxcatcher," du Pont's team and training facility, because they were the only ones at that time paying people to wrestle. He added that if he had been supported by USA Wrestling, he might have competed for five more years.

And there are more problems, with many college wrestling programs, including the one at BYU where he had coached, being closed down. Add to this the problems international wrestling is facing by being threatened with being dropped from the Olympics, and it is obvious that wrestling is reeling from one crisis to another.

He has proposed some solutions over the years, including asking the NCAA to add submissions to college wrestling. That advice, of course, was not heeded, and the diminution of college wrestling, partially fueled by a misapplication of Title IX, continues to this day.

But he did add that he does have a lot of support in the wrestling community, and that "only a small group of people don't support me."

We also discussed a lot more about his life and the movie, including his upcoming autobiographical book, and the potential for growth for some form of submission wrestling, with Mark Schultz.

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:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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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 First Annual Liberty Bell Classic East Coast King of Catch Tournament, organized by the North American Catch Wrestling Association in conjunction with Scientific Wrestling. This catch wrestling tournament will take place Saturday, August 31, 2013, at the Klein JCC, 10100 Jamison Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19116. No points! No politics! Only submissions and pins win! For more information, go to http://nacwa.weebly.com.

Labels: BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, college, Dave, du Pont, Eddie Goldman, film, Foxcatcher, freestyle, Mark Schultz, MMA, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Olympics, submission, USA, wrestling

Note: The issue of transsexual athletes in the combat sports is still being debated, especially among their most backwards sector, North American MMA circles. This controversy has been covered in depth on No Holds Barred, with recent interviews with transsexual athletes Fallon Fox, Alaina Hardie, Ryka Aoki, and Donna Rose, as well as a commentary supporting Fallon Fox's right to fight in women's MMA.

But this issue is neither new for combat sports nor for my coverage of them. Back in 2005, for the now-defunct and dearly departed BoxingRanks.com site, I reviewed the movie "Beautiful Boxer", about transsexual muay Thai fighter Parinya Charoenphol, also known as Nong Toom. Since that site has totally closed down, I actually had to use the Internet Archive to retrieve it, here.

And since that time, the entire film "Beautiful Boxer" has been uploaded on YouTube, at http://youtu.be/ibZMW6AKe4o.

Take the time to watch it, and you will feel rewarded.

Below is the text of the original article I wrote in 2005 on the film "Beautiful Boxer", minus the links at the end to sites about the movie since they seem outdated as well. Just remember that it was originally written for the audience of what was then a major boxing web site, and that the article also received praise and appreciation from those involved in that site.

"BEAUTIFUL BOXER": BEAUTIFUL STORY, BEAUTIFUL MOVIE
by Eddie Goldman (March 6, 2005)

The fight game is once again emerging as the undisputed champion of cinematic drama. The Clint Eastwood film "Million Dollar Baby" made a big haul at the 2005 Academy Awards, winning four Oscars. The highly-acclaimed documentary "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story" will debut on the USA Network on Wed., April 20, after a run at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Another boxing movie called "Black Cloud" is set for its national debut on March 11.

And now from Thailand comes "Beautiful Boxer," a very different kind of story about a different kind of fighting and a different kind of fighter.

If you are expecting "Raging Bull," "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (my personal favorite), "Rocky," or any other of the traditional boxing films, this one is something quite different.

"Beautiful Boxer" is a dramatization of the story of Thai kickboxer Parinya Charoenphol, also affectionately known as Nong Toom. Thai boxing, or muay Thai as it is known internationally, is a brutal form of kickboxing that combines punches, kicks, elbows, fighting while clinching, and even some throws to the mat. And that's just the legal stuff. "Beautiful Boxer" is partially subtitled in English with most of the dialogue in Thai and some in English as well. Once you get past all that, you will find a very human story that will be hard to forget.

The reason is that Parinya Charoenphol, or Nong Toom, was a champion Thai boxer, and a transvestite who eventually had surgery to become a woman.

The film starts with the telling of Nong Toom's life story through flashbacks. Nong Toom is played by Asanee Suwan, himself a champion muay Thai fighter.

As a young boy Nong Toom was brought up to face a very hard life with dirt poor parents. Yet even then he was attracted to girls' clothing.

In an array of seeming contradictions, at least to prevailing stereotypes about gender, he ends up going to a fighting camp to learn muay Thai, and does very well. As his career develops, he starts to fight competitively and win almost all of his fights. An exception is a hometown decision given to a fighter whom he sliced and diced in the ring. Yes, corruption in boxing knows no bounds either of country or style of fighting.

While building a reputation as a top fighter in this brutal combat sport, he also remains gentle on the inside. This film is filled with his strikingly sensitive and haunting observations, with statements made in an increasingly feminine-sounding voice like, "I don't like to hurt strangers. But in the ring you have no choice." If you don't react to these types of statements, and the way they are delivered in this film, then you have a smaller heart than the tin man in "The Wizard of Oz."

Soon it is made clear that Nong Toom's main motivation for fighting as a professional is to earn enough money to pay for what is clinically known as sexual reassignment surgery, or more popularly as a sex change operation.

By this time Nong Toom is taking female hormones and openly appearing at his fights as a transvestite. He comes into the ring wearing women's makeup. This only adds drama to the matches, and many regard this, incorrectly, as simply a gimmick to add heat to the matches.

In the film, the underlying contrast of his success at this seemingly male and brutal style of fighting and his increasingly female appearance and psyche is highlighted, all the while decking and staggering preconceived notions about the nature of masculinity, femininity, and gender as effectively as Nong Toom's punches and kicks are stopping his opponents in the ring.

Eventually Nong Toom's success earns him a fight in Bangkok's famed Lumpinee Stadium, the Madison Square Garden of muay Thai. Despite his growing success as a fighter, he never loses sight of his main goal: To earn enough money for a sex change operation.

Nong Toom continues to take female hormones as part of that transition, while also continuing to fight. Yet the female hormones begin to transform his body and sap his muscle power. Now, as he is growing breasts and has to wear a bra into the ring, he starts losing fights to male opponents.

Women are banned from this style of fighting in Thailand. Even before his surgery, Nong Toom is shown the door from the muay Thai ring.

Yet he still needs cash for his surgery. So he goes to Japan in 1988 to participate in what is essentially a freak show match to face female pro wrestler Kyoko Inoue in the Tokyo Dome. The movie portrays their encounter as a real fight involving mixed styles. In the film, Kyoko Inoue plays herself, and performs various moves from the fake pro wrestling that are not known to work in real fights. In both the film and in the real fight, however, Nong Toom wins by a TKO as Inoue is cut and bleeding from his many blows. According to Tadashi Tanaka of Japan and Dave Meltzer of the U.S., both expert journalists in pro wrestling and the mixed martial arts, this was indeed a real fight and not a fake or staged one, even if it was very strange.

A key scene in the film takes place after this fight. A cute female groupie camps out by Nong Toom's hotel room awaiting him. When he arrives, she tells him that she believes that all this transvestite stuff is merely a gimmick, like some fictional pro wrestling persona. In his room she begins to disrobe and throw herself at him. He tries to be polite, but looks distraught and is obviously not sexually interested in her. At no time in the film do we see Nong Toom having sex or expressing sexual interest in anyone, male or female, but this scene touchingly makes clear that the direction he is heading in is as real as real can be.

Eventually Nong Toom has the sex change operation and becomes a woman. The real Parinya Charoenphol, who is now a successful model and actress in Thailand, makes a cameo appearance as a makeup artist in the film, as a sort of a visual endorsement of the authenticity of this dramatization.

In the U.S., "Beautiful Boxer" has made the rounds at some gay film festivals as well as some independent movie theaters. The fact that it is not an easy movie to pigeonhole, as a gay movie or a martial arts movie or what, led a reviewer in the Village Voice to complain that "some fences just can't be painlessly straddled."

Yet "Beautiful Boxer" is beautiful precisely because of its universality. It transcends all those social barriers that segregate transgender people from everyone else. Nong Toom could be the kid next door, or the fighter on the card you just watched, or anyone else. And that is precisely its point, that it is as natural for transgender people to be who they are as is the grass that grows underneath all our feet.

You will undoubtedly root for Nong Toom as you watch this film. Hopefully it will instruct you, if you didn't already realize it, that the issue of gender needs to be approached with reason, science, logic, history, and compassion, and not superstition, fear, ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.

Do you want a parallel? Look at how Black people were characterized just a century ago, as documented in "Unforgivable Blackness." Race and gender, of course, have very different histories and natures. For one thing, we know that race is not even a scientific category. For another, slavery, apartheid, segregation, and racial discrimination have a different social significance and history from gender discrimination. But the ideological prejudices are similar. The justifications of the persecution and oppression of all these groups use similar religious fundamentalist texts, which support the buying and selling of slaves, and the suppression of anything other than heterosexual relations.

This beautiful movie, "Beautiful Boxer," begins to break down these barriers with this dramatization of this real-life story. It is but one of countless real-life stories which demonstrate that the path taken by Nong Toom is not some "lifestyle," and not a mere "choice," but as natural as the sun that shines above us all.

Only the most heartless, the most prejudiced and bigoted, and the most empty- headed religious fanatics will fail to empathize with the very human dilemma which faced Nong Toom. And only the densest and most closed minds will fail to notice the contradiction between Nong Toom's brutal profession and his gentle and pacific nature.

It will indeed be a shame if this movie gets labeled as simply a gay movie. It is a movie for everyone -- everyone that is compassionate and open-minded, that is. Bigots can stay home and hate themselves as well as everyone else.

Labels: Beautiful Boxer, boxing, Eddie Goldman, film, kickboxing, movie, muay Thai, No Holds Barred, Nong Toom, Parinya Charoenphol, transgender, transsexual

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