NO HOLDS BARRED

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Ruiz-Joshua 2: Assholery in Arabia

Labels: Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua, boxing, doping, Eddie Goldman, Eddie Hearn, human rights, No Holds Barred, Saudi Arabia

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman reposts what was the first preview show of No Holds Barred, and featured interviews about and from the World Sumo Challenge.

This event originally took place October 22, 2005, at Madison Square Garden, and was shown on tape delay on ESPN2 that December. The original No Holds Barred show on this event was posted on December 27, 2005.

This new edition of No Holds Barred adds at the beginning of the show commentary on why this venture failed and the still-unmet need for the formation of a real professional wrestling circuit of some kind.

The original World Sumo Challenge event will be replayed in August by ESPN as part of their "The Ocho" series, on the ESPN app and also via your service provider's On Demand feature, we are told by an ESPN representative.

A highlight video of the World Sumo Challenge can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmv4xm8d72w.

Here is the original and quite optimistic description from the December 2005 No Holds Barred show on the World Sumo Challenge:

Here are the people with whom we spoke:

Former yokozuna Musashimaru, who served as a color commentator and analyst on the ESPN2 telecast.

Veteran boxing trainer Tommy Gallagher, who was also working with this event.

Ken Podziba, head of the New York City Sports Commission, which assisted this event.

Noah Goldman, president and CEO of Big Boy Productions, which produced and promoted the event.

Yoshisada Yonezuka, a vice president of the International Sumo Federation and longtime judo coach, who acted as a sumo technical advisor for the event. [Note: Sadly he passed away in 2014.]

We also spoke with two of the participants, sumo wrestlers Ronny Allman of Norway and Sydney Carty of the Netherlands.

In addition, at the Mayhem On Mulberry 5 muay Thai event held the night before the live sumo show, we caught up with two judo legends, Teimoc Jonston-Ono and Mike Swain. We discussed the sumo event, with which they both were attending, as well as judo, mixed martial arts, muay Thai, and the combat sports in general.

Also at the muay Thai event, we caught up with two of the fighters that night, Brian Robertson, who won a decision over Marcus Antebi, and Willow Chanthavong, who lost a decision to Liz Linstrom.

As we mentioned during this special preview show, the World Sumo Challenge was highly organized, got tremendous mainstream media attention, and was very well received by the fans at Madison Square Garden. The telecast had excellent production values and the tournament format was well explained both at the live event and on TV. Plus, sumo is fairly easy for casual fans to understand, and the action on the mat was usually non-stop and had the mainly American crowd cheering throughout the tournament.

The major and perhaps only shortcoming was its inconsistency in educating the fans as to who the athletes were. For example, Torsten Scheibler, the 438.5-pound wrestler from Germany, had recently won the gold medal at the world championships in Japan. Yet he was upset in the first round by Sydney Carty, a mere 328.5 pounds. Yet this was only noted briefly after the match by Musashimaru, with Scheibler's credentials going almost unnoticed, and the huge sports story of this first-round upset not being emphasized.

Also, the event's first champion was Mitshuhiko Fukao, a 5'10", 411.5-pound wrestler from Japan. Little was known about Fukao before the event and less reported about him afterwards. There was no post-match interview with Fukao, who had become a crowd favorite, or a post-event press conference. Even though an interview with Fukao would have had to have been conducted in Japanese, there were numerous people who could have done the translating right there. Thus, Fukao is their first champion and will defend his title without much more information even to this date being provided about him.

Nonetheless, the World Sumo Challenge has to be considered overall a major success. A new professional combat sport is being born, and that is good news. Others in the combat sports world can learn a lot from how this event was organized and conducted.

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.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.

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World Sumo Challenge Replay On ESPN Again

Labels: Eddie Goldman, ESPN, No Holds Barred, Ocho, Patreon, World Sumo Challenge, wrestling

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The Dillian Whyte Doping Scandal Thus Far

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Pacquiao-Thurman vs. Whyte-Rivas

Labels: boxing, Dillian Whyte, Eddie Goldman, heavyweight, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao, No Holds Barred, Oscar Rivas, Patreon, pay-per-view, welterweight

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Waiting For The Heavyweights

Labels: Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua Tyson Fury, boxing, Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, Eddie Goldman, heavyweights, No Holds Barred

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Matthew Gelfand, an instructor and coach at Shuai Jiao Evolution.

Based in New York, he will be traveling to California this coming weekend for the 2019 TCAAT Shuaijiao Tournament of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hosted by USA Shuaijiao, this tournament will take place Saturday, July 13, at Cupertino High School, 10100 Finch Ave., Cupertino, California 95014.

We spoke with him by phone Sunday.

Shuai Jiao, the Chinese traditional style of wrestling, is clearly recognized as being one of many styles of wrestling taught and competed in by many people who also are involved in countless other styles of wrestling, martial arts, and combat sports. He mentioned American Lavell Marshall, a Shuai Jiao instructor and wrestler, who is currently training and competing in China.

"The way we all look at is wrestling is wrestling," he said, "so as an example Lavell out in Mongolia doing Bokh, or Mongolian wrestling."

Even this upcoming TCAAT tournament is trying to go beyond the traditional Shuai Jiao rules, where wrestlers must wear special jackets. At the July 13 TCAAT event, "there's even going to be a non-jackets division in order to hopefully entice people who are interested in playing the rules but aren't used to the jacket," he said.

"I think people don't necessarily understand, especially in America, what the differences and the similarities are between the arts," he noted. He hopes, as a "pet project", to demonstrate exactly what the similarities are between styles such as Greco-Roman wrestling, Shuai Jiao, judo, sambo, etc., so that "people can get the idea about the fact that we're all kind of cousins."

And, he reiterated, "Wrestling is wrestling," and that "there's so many different things you can learn from each art, there's so many different ways of doing the same thing, that a lot of times people just kind of stand at their own place and they don't want to blend with other styles, but the fact is there is something to be learned from everywhere."

We also had a wide-ranging discussion about the often confusing array of national and international Shuai Jiao organizations and how most groups are finally starting to work together. We also discussed how he got interested in Shuai Jiao; how in China there are "four or five" professional Shuai Jiao tournaments a month; why much of what goes on in China involving Shuai Jiao is not known in the rest of the world and how that is starting to change; upcoming tournaments in Brazil in October and in Brooklyn next January; and much, much more.

Note also that I am reviving my Patreon page. This is a crowdfunding site where people post all sorts of content and ask that this work by funded by what the site calls patrons. This will allow me to continue with the kind of unbought and independent, intelligent combat sports journalism that I have been providing for almost three decades now. My page is at https://www.patreon.com/eddiegoldman, and you can make a monthly contribution of any amount you wish. All contributions, no matter how small or great they may be, are greatly appreciated.

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.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.

Labels: China, Chinese wrestling, Eddie Goldman, martial arts, Matthew Gelfand Shuai Jiao, No Holds Barred

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Psst, Wanna Buy An Olympics?

Labels: boxing, corruption, Eddie Goldman, IOC, No Holds Barred, Olympics, scandals, wrestling

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A Wrestling Dream.

Labels: Dream, Eddie Goldman, No Hold Barred, professional, real, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the two middleweight title fights taking place Saturday, June 29.

On that date, WBO belt holder Demetrius Andrade fights Maciej Sulecki at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. This will headline a card shown live on DAZN in the U.S. and on Sky Sports in the U.K.

Also on that date, interim WBC belt holder Jermall Charlo fights Brandon Adams at the NRG Arena in Houston, Texas. This will headline a PBC card shown live on Showtime in the U.S. and on ITV4 in the U.K.

We got comments from Demetrius Andrade, Jermall Charlo, and Brandon Adams on Tuesday's media conference call.

Also discussed is the current situation in the middleweight division, and much more.

Note also that I am reviving my Patreon page. This is a crowdfunding site where people post all sorts of content and ask that this work by funded by what the site calls patrons. This will allow me to continue with the kind of unbought and independent, intelligent combat sports journalism that I have been providing for almost three decades now. My page is at https://www.patreon.com/eddiegoldman, and you can make a monthly contribution of any amount you wish. All contributions, no matter how small or great they may be, are greatly appreciated.

(Photo of Demetrius Andrade and Maciej Sulecki by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.)

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 Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.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.

Labels: boxing, Brandon Adams, Demetrius Andrade, Eddie Goldman, Jermall Charlo, Maciej Sulecki, middleweights, No Holds Barred