Monday, July 04, 2022
"When Roy Jones Turned Down A No-Holds-Barred Fight" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/when-roy-jones-68648183.
Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, Extreme Fighting, MMA, NHB, No Holds Barred, Ralph Gracie, Roy Jones
Friday, July 01, 2022
No Holds Barred: IOC Tells IBA Enough Is Enough, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, June 27.
The scandal-drenched International Boxing Association (IBA) made headlines again last week, and not for anything positive. At their Executive Board meeting, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not only confirmed that their suspension of IBA stands, but also that IBA would not be allowed to organize the boxing competition and qualification events for the 2024 Paris Olympics. They cited numerous failures of IBA, especially in the area of governance.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had ruled that, in their recent presidential election, IBA's exclusion of Dutch Boxing Federation President Boris van der Vorst, who was running against incumbent IBA President Umar Kremlev of Russia, was unwarranted, as well as the exclusion of four reformers who were running for the IBA's Board of Directors. So far, IBA claims that they will consider holding a new presidential election in a few months, but has said nothing about holding a new election for their Board of Directors.
The IOC has also raised the issue about IBA's failure to properly prepare for the 2024 Olympic qualifying events including no host city contracts being signed, the lack of a sufficient number of qualified referees and judges, and IBA's continued financial dependence on the Russian state-controlled Gazprom energy giant.
"Enough was enough," said IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell at the press conference. Thus, for the second Olympics in a row, IBA has been stripped of the right to organize the boxing competition, with the IOC set to devise a plan to do so themselves.
Boxing also remains excluded from the program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with the possibility that boxing will no longer be an Olympic sport looking likelier as time goes on.
Also, Malissa Smith discussed the latest women's boxing news, including Jessica McCaskill's successful defense of her undisputed welterweight ttile, and Christy Martin's new book.
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Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, IBA, International Boxing Association, IOC, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympics, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Thursday, June 23, 2022
No Holds Barred: Usyk-Joshua 2, Sportswashing, and the Growth of Saudi Boxing, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Tuesday, June 21.
The kickoff press conference for the rematch between WBA-IBF-WBO heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk and the fighter he defeated to win those belts last September, Anthony Joshua, took place Tuesday, June 21, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. That fight is scheduled to take place there August 20
Locating this fight in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a monarchy and theocracy with a well-known abysmal human right record, has prompted many to accuse the Saudis of "sportswashing", a term which means "attempting to detract attention from the country's human rights record".
Amnesty International UK had requested that Anthony Joshua speak out against these human rights violations. But asked about this after the press conference, Joshua brushed off these concerns and told reporters, "I don't know what that is. I'm here to win the heavyweight champion of the world. I like Saudi. I think Saudi's good. I'm having a good time here. I'm treated really well. All that allegation stuff, for me, I'm not caught up in any of that stuff. I'm here to have a good time, mix with the local people, bring entertainment to Saudi."
Yet to understand why the Saudis are reportedly paying tens of millions of dollars to host this fight, and have attracted many other high profile sporting events, it should be understood that their motivation is not only to detract attention from their human rights record. Saudi Arabia is using their hundreds of billions of petrodollars accumulated over many decades to try to diversify the economy, reduce their financial dependance on petroleum revenue, and further develop their sports, entertainment, and tourism sectors.
Saudi Arabia's modernization plans also include the enhancing of sports training, facilities, and competition for Saudi youth. In particular, they have been developing a growing amateur boxing program for both young men and women, and are actively engaged in the international Olympic boxing movement. Bringing major fights like this one to their country is in part aimed at encouraging more youth to participate and train in boxing.
We discussed all sides of this, how most of the Western media has a one-sided view of the social and economic significance of this fight taking place in Saudi Arabia, and much more.
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Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, heavyweights, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Oleksandr Usyk, Saudi Arabia, sportswashing, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Monday, June 20, 2022
"Don't Bring Your Crayons to Usyk-Joshua 2" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/dont-bring-your-68005641.
Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Crayola, crayons, DAZN, Eddie Goldman, homosexuality, human rights, Jeddah, LGBTQ, No Holds Barred, Oleksandr Usyk, Pride Month, Saudi Arabia
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
No Holds Barred: Heavyweights Everywhere, First Women Boxers in Hall of Fame, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, June 13.
Between this weekend's wild Daniel Dubois versus Trevor Bryan fight, with a 90-year-old Don King reminding us he's still in the game, to Anthony Joshua's landmark deal with DAZN, there's a lot of action in the heavyweight division. We talked about it all, plus the possibility of an announcement coming real soon for UsykJoshua2. And yes, everything is very, very fluid.
We also talked about the once-in-a-lifetime "Trilogy" at the International Boxing Hall of Fame this past weekend combining a celebration of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 inductions due to the COVID pandemic. Most notable, however, was the first ever inclusion of women boxers in the Modern and Trailblazer groupings to include:
Women Modern Boxers: Christy Martin (2020), Lucia Rijker (2020), Laila Ali (2021), Ann Wolfe (2021), Holly Holm (2022), and Regina Halmich (2022).
Women Trailblazer Boxers: Barbara Buttrick (2020) and Marian "Lady Tyger" Trimiar (2021).
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Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Hall of Fame, heavyweights, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports, women boxers
Sunday, June 12, 2022
"The Surreal Tale of Daniel Dubois vs. Trevor Bryan" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Daniel Dubois, Don King, Eddie Goldman, heavyweight boxing, No Holds Barred, Trevor Bryan, WBA
Friday, June 10, 2022
No Holds Barred: Kali Reis on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
Our guest was boxer, actor, and activist Kali Reis, who holds the WBA and WBO 140-pound belts.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, June 6.
Besides discussing her boxing career, we discussed her film "Catch the Fair One", for which she was nominated for the prestigious International Spirit Award for best actor. In it she portrayed a Native American boxer who risked her own life to enter the world of sex trafficking to find her missing sister.
Every year, thousands of Native Americans go missing or are murdered. To this date, there is still no database keeping track of these statistics.
The film was co-written by Kali Reis and Josef Wladyka and stars Kali and former women's pro boxer Shelley Vincent.
See this movie on Amazon Prime. Support independent film.
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Labels: boxing, Catch the Fair One, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Kali Reis, Malissa Smith, Native American, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Saturday, June 04, 2022
"Waiting for the Heavyweights, June 2022 Edition" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Anthony Joshua, boxing, Eddie Goldman, heavyweight, No Holds Barred, Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury
Monday, May 30, 2022
"'Night and the City' - Classic Film Noir and Classic Wrestling" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Eddie Goldman, film noir, Night and the City, No Holds Barred, wrestling
Friday, May 27, 2022
No Holds Barred: Bye Bye, Olympic Boxing? on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, May 23.
The beleaguered International Boxing Association (IBA), at their recent congress, only allowed sitting president Umar Kremlev of Russia to run for that office after disqualifying his only opponent a day before the election, and also disqualified four candidates from running for their board who had raised some criticisms of the direction IBA has taken. This stunt did not sit well with the IOC, which had already suspended IBA, and said it was closely monitoring what was supposed to be a governance reform process for IBA.
At the same time, relations between the IOC and Putin's Russia have been at a low point since Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine right after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympics, which was supposed to be a period of peace called the Olympic Truce. For years the IOC has appeased Russia, following their violation twice before of the Olympic Truce, with the attack on Georgia in 2008 and annexation of Crimea in 2014, and their recalcitrant and defiant actions involving their state-sponsored doping program. All these resulted essentially in slaps on the wrist. But IOC president Bach last week said that Russia was responsible for "personal threats to individuals from the IOC and Olympic Movement." Only this might have been the breaking point for Bach.
We discussed why it is not surprising that a Mafia regime like Putin's tried to threaten and bully the IOC, how IBA's reliance on Russia for funding through the state-run Gazprom energy giant may have doomed their chances of being reinstated by the IOC, how all this further jeopardizes Olympic boxing which already has been excluded from the program of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, how the demise of Olympic boxing will damage and possibly destroy both amateur and professional boxing, who might potentially replace Russia as a benefactor of Olympic boxing, and much more.
In addition, Malissa Smith kept us up-to-date with some important news about women's boxing.
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Labels: Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, IBA, IOC, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympic boxing, Russia, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Monday, May 23, 2022
"Keep An Eye On Yoelvis Gomez" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "Keep An Eye On Yoelvis Gomez", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
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Labels: boxing, Cuba, Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, Yoelvis Gomez
No Holds Barred: Avril Mathie and Terri Moss, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
Our guests were fighter and model Avril Mathie and promoter and former fighter Terri Moss, a 2015 inductee in the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame and CEO of the Buckhead Fight Club.
We spoke with them by Zoom Tuesday, May 17.
On June 11, the unbeaten Avril Mathie (7-0-1, 3 KOs) continues her quest to get a title fight as she fights on the Summer Time Brawl show at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. We spoke with her about her journey into boxing, and with Terri Moss about her role as a promoter.
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Labels: . boxing, Avril Mathie, Buckhead Fight Club, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Terri Moss, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Friday, May 13, 2022
No Holds Barred: Bivol Beat Canelo But Should Have Been Banned, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
On Saturday, May 7, pound-for-pound king and super middleweight champ Saul "Canelo" Alvarez lost by a clearcut decision in Las Vegas to unbeaten Russian fighter Dmitry Bivol, who holds the WBA light heavyweight belt. We discussed this fight, but also why, when the U.S. is sanctioning Russia for its criminal war of aggression in Ukraine, Russian boxers should not be permitted to fight on U.S. soil. Tune in now to hear our breakdown on the fight and why sanctions are so important in the war against Putin's propaganda machine.
(Photo by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.)
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Labels: . boxing, Chris Baldwin, Dmitry Bivol, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Russia, Saul Canelo Alvarez, Ukraine, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Thursday, May 12, 2022
"DAZN and the Future of Women's Boxing" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "DAZN and the Future of Women's Boxing", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/dazn-and-future-66324947.
Labels: Amanda Serrano, DAZN, Eddie Goldman, Katie Taylor, No Holds Barred, women's boxing
Thursday, May 05, 2022
No Holds Barred: Taylor and Serrano Make History, and Kinahan Cornered, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, May 2.
What a fight! The bout between Ireland's undisputed lightweight champion fighter, Katie Taylor, and Amanda Serrano, the Brooklyn-based seven-division champion who hails from Puerto Rico, was one for the ages. Taylor and Serrano made history as the first women headliners in the main arena at the mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden. Fighting on a packed card, the two pound-for-pound greats fought an instant classic in front of a sold-out crowd of excited fans with a decibel level that was so loud, the referee couldn't hear the bell at the end of a few of the rounds. Taylor came out on top with a split-decision and a lot of talk of a rematch. Time will tell.
The second half of the show looked at the impact of the U.S. government's decision to freeze the assets of the top echelon of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group, along with putting a five million dollar bounty leading to the arrest and conviction of the gang's leadership. We discussed the impact of this decision on boxing, including the shuttering of MTK Global's boxing empire. Bob Arum of Top Rank promised to cooperate with U.S. authorities but did admit he'd paid Daniel Kinahan four million dollars in fees for the Tyson Fury fights. The WBC also had to walk back their very recent public embrace of Daniel Kinahan. A lot of uncertainty remains on what the fallout will be. We shall continue to discuss it on future WAAR Room shows as more information becomes available.
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Labels: Amanda Serrano, Chris Baldwin, Daniel Kinahan, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Katie Taylor, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports, women's boxing
Monday, May 02, 2022
"Taylor-Serrano Was A Classic, But ...." on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Amanda Serrano, boxing, DAZN, Eddie Goldman, Katie Taylor, No Holds Barred, Shakur Stevenson, Twitter
Saturday, April 30, 2022
"Here Comes Taylor vs. Serrano" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Amanda Serrano, Eddie Goldman, Katie Taylor, No Holds Barred, women's boxing
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
"Twitter, Damaged" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Eddie Goldman, Elon Musk, No Holds Barred, social media, Twitter
Thursday, April 21, 2022
"Heraclitus and Daniel Kinahan, the Five Million Dollar Man" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "Heraclitus and Daniel Kinahan, the Five Million Dollar Man", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
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Labels: boxing, Daniel Kinahan, Eddie Goldman, Heraclitus, Kinahan Organized Crime Group, No Holds Barred
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
No Holds Barred: Kristen Worley on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, April 11.
Our guest was author and former elite waterskier and cyclist, Kristen Worley, to discuss and dispel the myths about transgender participation in sports.
Worley explained the complexities of the hormones that interplay in the human body, and how policies have been made, and continue to be made, across the spectrum of athletics without scientific study or evidence. In Worley's case, it led to her being the first athlete to be "gender tested" under the aegis of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Stockholm Consensus of 2003. The requirements of the "consensus" led to physical harm to her and other transgender athletes who were required to restrict their intake of necessary hormones or face expulsion from the very sports they love. In 2016, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recognized that IOC policies specifically requiring her to reduce her testosterone levels in order compete in female sport, not only made her ill, but infringed on her human rights.
Subsequent to this ground-breaking court case, Worley has worked with the IOC to develop a new framework for transgender athletes, which was released in November 2021. Much more work needs to be done, however, to overcome the deep prejudices, fears, and highly politicized atmosphere surrounding transgender rights.
We are grateful to Kristen Worley for providing us with a basic education on the issues transgender athletes face.
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Labels: Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Kristen Worley, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, transgender athletes, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Monday, April 11, 2022
Play and Download No Holds Barred For Free on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive
Labels: Anchor, Eddie Goldman, Internet Archive, No Holds Barred, Patreon, podcast
Thursday, April 07, 2022
No Holds Barred: Martin Stark on the World Gay Boxing Championships, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Friday, April 1 (Saturday, April 2 in Australia).
Our guest was Martin Stark, founder and CEO of the World Gay Boxing Championships.
Here is the information he sent us about the event, on recruiting boxers for the championships, and for their fundraising campaign:
Recruiting Boxers for the Championships
The championships are taking place from 18-22 February 2023 in Sydney coinciding with Mardi Gras and World Pride! The event is for the LGBTQIA+ community and our fantastic allies.
We are now inviting boxers to select the category they want to compete in by completing the form in the link https://linktr.ee/wgbc.org.au. The competition age groups are Youth (17-18 years), Elite (19-40 years) and Masters (41 and above). For Masters, the age groups are 41-50, 51-60, or 61-70 years. Boxers will be matched in one of two experience categories:
Novice (0-9 previous bouts), or
Experienced (10 or more bouts)
We are offering the following weight divisions:
Female: 48-50kg, 54-57kg, 57-60kg, 66-70kg, 75-81kg and 81kg+
Male: 54-57kg, 60-63.5kg, 71-75kg, 75-80kg, 86-92kg and 92kg+
The competition will be conducted under Boxing Australia rules and WGBC policies including the WGBC transgender and gender diverse policy which is currently being developed. We may offer further categories upon completion of the trans and gender diverse policy. The sanctioning body is Boxing NSW who are providing the referees and judges.
Boxers from 12 countries have selected their categories and we would love to more international boxers compete. Everyone will receive a warm Aussie welcome 😊
WGBC Fundraising Campaign
It would be awesome to get people involved in our interactive fundraising campaign WGBC 2023 Jabs For Equality Challenge! It’s 14 days of shadow boxing doing at least 2023 non-combative punches recording their efforts and posting on social media. Participants receive their own personalised page and link for people to donate to. We want people to enjoy the benefits of being active and have lots of fun!
To join https://asf.org.au/projects/world-gay-boxing-championships/wgbc-2023-jabs-for-equality-challenge and jab where it says “Click Here To Sign Up!”. You will get your own personalised page and link for people to donate to.
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Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, LGBTQ, Malissa Smith, Martin Stark, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports, World Gay Boxing Championships
Sunday, April 03, 2022
The Myth of Boxing's Rising Popularity
My latest piece, "The Myth of Boxing's Rising Popularity", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/myth-of-boxings-64655096.
Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred
Sunday, March 27, 2022
"A Sad Day For Wrestling" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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Labels: Eddie Goldman, Gable Steveson, NCAA, No Holds Barred, Superman, wrestling, WWE
Saturday, March 26, 2022
No Holds Barred: The Lesbian Fight Club, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page.
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, March 21.
Our guest was Marna Deitch. We discussed both the Lesbian Fight Club and boxing.
The Lesbian Fight Club, which is not just open to lesbians, and which trains people in self-defense techniques. As the LGBTQI community remains under attack, it is critically important to learn self-defense.
Marna Deitch is the founder of the Motorcycle Contingent for Equality, an award-winning activist, a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board of West Hollywood, and an executive board member of The L-Project, an art and tech 501(c)(3) organization promoting emerging LGBTQI women and non-binary creatives.
We also discussed the award-winning film, "Catch The Fair One", written by and starring boxer Kali Reis. And we discussed recent news about the Russian energy company, Gazprom, its sponsorship relationship with the IBA, and why amateur boxing may be dropped as an Olympic sport in the near future.
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Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Lesbian Fight Club, Malissa Smith, Marna Deitch, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Friday, March 18, 2022
No Holds Barred: Russia, Ukraine, the Olympics, Kinahan, and Corruption, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Monday, March 14.
Our wide-ranging discussion first focused on the continuing role of Russia in world sport, including in professional and Olympic boxing, even as Russia's war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine intensify. We discussed revelations that Umar Kremlev, president of the Olympic boxing federation IBA, has a history of ties with the Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves. Since 2014, the Night Wolves have been been under sanction by the the U.S. Treasury Department: "The Night Wolves have been closely connected to the Russian special services, have helped to recruit separatist fighters for Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine, and were deployed to the cities of Luhansk and Kharkiv." The IBA also has kept Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy company, as a "general partner". And in professional boxing, Russian fighters like Dmitry Bivol still get major fights, despite worldwide boycotts against Russian sports organizations and athletes because of Putin's criminal war of aggression against Ukraine.
We also discussed the increasingly prominent role of Daniel Kinahan, the alleged Irish head of an international drug cartel, in boxing. While the Irish media has been exemplary in exposing Kinahan, most of the world boxing media either remains silent about him or tries to cover up his real role. Kinahan is holed up in Dubai, which has not yet extradited him to Ireland. But Dubai is now hosting more and more major fights.
Also, we discussed how all this corruption means that there is no longer a basis for fair, all-inclusive world sport, and that the Olympic movement, which is collapsing, needs to be replaced. We discussed the role of gambling in boxing, sportswashing, how boxing is becoming so expensive to watch that it has become a luxury sport, and much more.
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Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Daniel Kinahan, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, Ukraine, Umar Kremlev, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
"Pay-Per-View Is Bad For Boxing" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
My latest piece, "Pay-Per-View Is Bad For Boxing", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/pay-per-view-is-63853126.
Labels: boxing, Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, pay-per-view, ppv
Saturday, March 05, 2022
"No Holds Barred Is Sweet Sixteen" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
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The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/no-holds-barred-63399627.
Labels: Eddie Goldman, No Holds Barred, sweet sixteen
Thursday, March 03, 2022
No Holds Barred: We Stand With Ukraine, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Sunday, February 27.
We discussed the need for a ban on Russia from world sports after Putin violated the Olympic Truce agreement and attacked Ukraine.
This is the third time since 2008 that Russia has violated the Olympic Truce and launched military attacks. Russia and its proxies attacked the country of Georgia in 2008 at the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics. Russia attacked Ukraine and annexed Crimea during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Now mere hours after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics had concluded, Russia launched its vicious and illegal land, sea, and air assault on Ukraine.
A ban on Russia may mark the end of the era of all-inclusive world sporting events. But the price for continuing to include Russia and its gang of cheats, dopers, and murderers in world sport is the complete abandonment of any principles associated with real sport. And such inherently corrupt sports organizations do not deserve to exist. The sustainability of an Olympic movement including both democratic and authoritarian countries, where human rights do not exist, has long been questioned as well.
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The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: boxing, Chris Baldwin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Malissa Smith, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, Ukraine, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports
No Holds Barred: A Bit of Women's Boxing History, on The WAAR Room with Chris Baldwin and Malissa Smith
We spoke with them by Zoom Sunday, February 13.
In every generation, there are big super fights, to be made for men and women in the sport. There was the fight between Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde as the main event on a pay-per-view card on June 8, 2001, in a big tent erected at the Turning Stone Casino outside of Canastota, New York.
While Bob Arum, yes, that Bob Arum, did not have a particular hand in that fight, he did try to promote the "Million Dollar Lady" super-fight between Christy Martin and Lucia Rijker in 2005. This wad meant to capitalize on Clint Eastwood's Oscar winning film, "Million Dollar Baby" starring Hilary Swank. Martin and Rijker were to have been guaranteed a $250,000 purse a piece. They were also both past the prime of their careers, but there'd been a rivalry that began to brew in the late-1990s, and it was the fight fans wanted to see, perhaps only eclipsed by the dream of pairing Laila Ali and Ann Wolfe.
In the end, Rijker had to pull out of the fight due to a torn achilles tendon, which turned out to be career ending. Ever the "champion" for women's boxing -- not -- Bob Arum was less than stellar about Rijker's injury, having done a lousy job of promoting the fight in the first place and seeming to blame the women for what was reported to be anemic ticket sales.
Arum's early forays in women's boxing extend all the way back to the late 1970s. He felt very burned by the experience, and in 1987 went on record to state that women's boxing is "ridiculous," and how he'd sworn that he'd never promote another women's bout.
He did go on to promote women's boxing champion Lucia Rijker in the late 1990s, and a few years later, Mia St. John. A martial artist, St. John's trademark was "hot pink" to distinguish herself from Christy Martin's baby pink. She gained popularity fighting on Oscar De La Hoya fight cards on pay-per-view in the early 2000s.
And of course, fast forward to 2022, and Bob Arum is still at it denigrating female prize fighters while promoting yet another champion female boxer.
The Taylor-Serrano main event super fight on April 30, 2022, in the main room at Madison Square Garden, demonstrates just how far the sport has come in terms of popularity and respect. It is, however, only the beginning. Bob Arum's open disdain for female achievements in the sport may be treated as being anachronistic, but the truth is he is not alone in his thinking. One need only look at the fight cards on mainstream boxing media in the United States, to see how much further there is to go.
Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.
You can play or download No Holds Barred on Anchor, Patreon, and the Internet Archive. If one link does not work, please try another.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
Labels: Chris Baldwin, Christy Martin, Eddie Goldman, Girlboxing, Laila Ali, Lucia Rijker, Malissa Smith, Mia St. John, No Holds Barred, WAAR Room, WAAR Sports, women's boxing
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
Defend Ukraine! Why I'm Resigning from the National Writers Union
My latest piece, "Ban Russia From World Sport", is up on the No Holds Barred Patreon page.
This article is free to read, but please subscribe today to support independent journalism.
Labels: Eddie Goldman, National Writers Union, No Holds Barred, NWU, Russia, Ukraine
Saturday, February 26, 2022
"Ban Russia From World Sport" on No Holds Barred Patreon Page
A subscription is required to read it, so subscribe today to support independent journalism.
The article is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ban-russia-from-63090632.
Labels: ban, Eddie Goldman, invasion, No Holds Barred, Olympics, Russia, Ukraine, world sport
