No Holds Barred With Eddie Goldman

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and the award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell.We spoke with him by phone Sunday.While the coronavirus pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, there nevertheless have been many notable fights involving top boxers in recent weeks.Among those fights we discussed were: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Carlos Cuadras 2 and Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez vs. Israel Gonzalez on October 23, and Naoya Inoue vs. Jason Moloney, Gervonta Davis vs. Leo Santa Cruz, and Oleksandr Usyk vs. Derek Chisora, which were all on October 31.Estrada, he said, "may be the best technical fighter fighting today. He does everything beautifully." His opponent in their rematch, Cuadras, "is brilliantly talented." This exciting, even matchup, where the outcome was in doubt until the very end, made this "the best fight I've seen in the last couple of years," he said.The impressive knockouts on the same night by Naoya Inoue a

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Jackie Silva, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist for Brazil in women's beach volleyball, of the #LetHerRun Movement.We spoke with her by Skype Tuesday, Sept. 29.Because of regulations devised by the Olympic federation World Athletics in 2018, all three medalists in the women's 800 meter finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics are presently barred from competing in this event at the Tokyo Olympics: gold medalist Caster Semenya of South Africa, silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, and bronze medalist Margaret Wambui of Kenya. The excuse for banning these three Black African women is that they were all born with naturally higher than average testosterone levels than most women, and have sometimes been described as being intersex although they all identify as women. World Athletics wants them either not to compete, to compete in other events than those in which they specialize, or else to take unproven and likely dangerous drugs to lower their natural

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Brendan Schwab, executive director of the World Players Association.The World Players Association, part of UNI Global Union, is the exclusive global voice of organized players and athletes across professional sport. It brings together 85,000 players through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries.We first spoke with Brendan Schwab by Skype Thursday, Sept. 10. But on Sat., Sept. 12, we all got the horrifying news that, despite a worldwide campaign on his behalf, Iran had secretly executed Navid Afkari on the trumped up charges for which Iran's courts had convicted him. We thus spoke again with Brendan Schwab Sat., in a much shorter discussion, about this execution and its implications for world sport and the place of Iran in it.So, to keep us all up to date, the first segment you will hear is the shorter discussion of Sept. 12 with Brendan Schwab. After that is the longer discussion of Sept. 10, when again we all had hoped that Na

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete.We spoke with him by phone Thursday.With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic upending sports, the massive Black Lives Matter anti-racist protests since the murder of George Floyd, the uncertainty surrounding the postponed Tokyo Olympics, and a host of other relevant issues and factors, the result in recent months has been a marked increase in activism by athletes around the world. And that, said Rob Koehler, is a good thing."I think we're seeing some really good stuff coming from athletes," he said. "More than ever I've seen athletes speaking up on issues. They are not taking the status quo anymore. They are standing up on issues."More and more, athletes are forming their own independent organizations."We're going to see it more. And the more athletes speak up, I think the more athletes will come forward, because power in numbers makes a huge difference," he said."Everyone wants to see spo

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Nate Jackson, a two-time All-American wrestler at Indiana, a current assistant coach at Princeton wrestling, and a founder and president of the Black Wrestling Association (BWA). We spoke with him by phone Thursday.The founding of the Black Wrestling Association is a direct product of the mass anti-racist uprisings in America and the world following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and other Black people. This led to several Black wrestlers including Nate Jackson having discussions about how to respond. "We were kind of called together, brought together through tragedy. So after the Ahmaud Arbery murder, we sought different ways on trying to bring awareness to Black men and Black people in general being brutalized in our country through overt racists," he said.Then on May 25 George Floyd was murdered, with the excruciating scene captured on video which was seen by millions around the world. That led to a series of protests, which are

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Steve Nelson, who fought in and ran the Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation (USWF). In the 1990s, the USWF ran a series of successful events, mainly in Amarillo, Texas, using shoot wrestling rules which allowed open-handed strikes, submissions, kicks, and knees. Steve Nelson wrestled at Oklahoma State, won two world silver medals in sambo, had a judo background, came from a family of pro wrestlers, and fought in MMA. He was also the longtime head wrestling coach for both the boys' and girls' wrestling teams at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo.We spoke with him by phone Wednesday.Some two decades after USWF stopped running shows, there has been a recent revival of interest in it."All of a sudden we've got this revival of the USWF. People are wanting to write books on the USWF, write books on Evan Tanner," he said, referring to the USWF heavyweight champion, Pancrase Neo-Blood tournament winner, and later UFC middleweight champion."Gon

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Chris Baldwin AKA the Fight Goddess.We spoke with her by phone Thursday.With the coronavirus pandemic still raging and cases of Covid-19 continuing to surge in many places in the U.S., including in Southern California, she has had to change how she conducts personal training."I had a mobile training business for the last 12 years here in Los Angeles, and that business came to a screeching halt once the lockdown order came from my Governer Newsom," she said, a lockdown, by the way, which she supports. She thus has had to shift gears and focus more on her Skullz punching bag product. "Now I've had to do more virtual training," mainly outside, she said."It's taken a toll. It's definitely mentally, physically, emotionally, it's definitely taken a toll."While the pandemic has yet to subside, and there are still a record number of new cases in the U.S. almost every day now, the fight against racism, white supremacy, and police murders and

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with investigative journalist, academic, consultant, and expert on match-fixing and corruption in international sports, Declan Hill.He is also an associate professor in the Investigations Department at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven in New Haven, Connecticut.We spoke with him by phone Tuesday.The news broke in June that Daniel Kinahan would be playing a key role in arranging a potential heavyweight title unification fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, the two top fighters in the division and holders between them of all the major belts. But not many outside Kinahan's native Ireland knew who he was or his history. Soon stories appeared in the Irish media explaining that Kinahan, now based in Dubai, headed a notorious international gang which engaged in drug and arms smuggling. Officials from the then-Irish prime minister to members of rival Irish political parties a

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete.We spoke with him by phone Thursday.For weeks the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, insisted that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would go on as scheduled starting in July, and even after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11. That only changed on March 24, when the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee did an abrupt about-face and announced that the Olympics would be postponed. Later on March 30, they announced that the new dates would be July 23 to August 8, 2021, for the Olympics and August 24 to September 5, 2021, for the Paralympics. But these changes were only made after many athletes and sports organizations were vociferously protesting, demanding a postponement, and saying they would not participate on the originally planned dates to protect their health."The International Olympic Committee and Thomas B

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with former kickboxer and current member of the Irish karate team Caradh O'Donovan. We spoke with her by Skype Sunday. With karate being included on the program of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she had hoped to represent Ireland there. Now, in light of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, she and athletes in all sports and all countries may not be able to realize their dreams of competing in the Olympics. Most Olympic qualifying events have either been cancelled or postponed, and when or even if they will take place are at best uncertain. Speaking about the Olympic qualifying events, she said, "My personal view is that everything should be stopped." Even if the European karate championships, which were cancelled, were still going on, she said she would have pulled out of them. "I think that people who are making the decisions should be taking the health and safety of people first, not just the fans, but every single person that's involved i

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the next round of fights for the top tier of heavyweights. Fresh from being stopped in the seventh round by Tyson Fury in their Feb. 22 rematch, Deontay Wilder has reportedly exercised the clause in the contract for that fight for a third fight between these two to take place. The reported working date is July 18. That pushes back any potential fight between the consensus top two heavyweights, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. And it means that Joshua's next fight will thus be against his mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev. That one is scheduled for June 20 in London. Why my reaction, and the reaction of most who follow boxing, is meh, bleh, and feh, is discussed and analyzed. 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: LenneHard

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses Tyson Fury's seventh-round stoppage of Deontay Wilder on February 22 in the biggest fight so far of 2020 and for the heavyweight division. Fury is now clearly the consensus top heavyweight in the world. What this fight meant for both fighters and for boxing, as well as what might be and should be next in the unresolved quest to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, are all examined. (Photo of Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 by Ryan Hafey, Premier Boxing Champions.) 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: Skullz Combat Sports Equipment, creator of the patented Skullz Double-End Bag, is the perfect punching bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and h

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Changhee Han. who is the Programme Specialist in charge of the 2nd African Regional Martial Arts Congress and the 3rd Martial Arts Open School Project in 2019, which were organized by UNESCO's International Centre of Martial Arts.. We spoke with him by Skype Friday. The 2nd African Regional Martial Arts Congress was held September 25-26, 2019, in Accra, Ghana. The first of these congresses was held in 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, and mainly aimed at the East African countries. The third congress will be held later this year in Zimbabwe and will be aimed at the Southern African region. Besides bringing together many experts, practitioners, and academics specializing in the martial arts, these regional congresses and the martial arts open schools are designed to spread more than the many techniques used in the martial arts. "Our Centre is under UNESCO and also Korean government," he said. "So it's not just about distribution of martial arts in Afr

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our correspondent Chris Baldwin. She was at this past Monday's press conference in Los Angeles for the rematch between WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) and Tyson Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs). Their first fight, in Dec. 2018, ended in a controversial split draw, with most observers saying that Fury deserved the win. The rematch is scheduled to take place Feb. 22, 2020, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In the U.S., it will be shown on a pay-per-view being jointly put on by FOX Sports and ESPN. We spoke with Chris Baldwin by phone Friday. "This was a really interesting presser. It was way smaller than the last presser, where they actually had a little fight on stage," she said, referring to the press conferences on the media tour for their first fight. "Fury walked out on the stage as his name was called. No one clapped. That was one of the first things I noticed, and he seemed a bit taken aback by that,

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with former kickboxer and current member of the Irish karate team Caradh O'Donovan. She is also a member of the start-up group of the new international athlete-led movement Global Athlete. We spoke with her by Skype Thursday. Previously an amateur kickboxing world and European champion, Caradh O'Donovan recently made the transition to karate, and has become an Irish national karate champion. With karate being included on the program of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she hopes to represent Ireland there. But her road to qualifying for the Olympics was almost derailed when a split and dispute between two rival governing groups prevented her and other athletes from competing in major karate events. It was then that she and these athletes contacted Global Athlete, who, along with the World Karate Federation, assisted them in finally being allowed to compete in these events. "I didn't know anything about them until I got it touch," she said about Glo

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Balogun Ojetade, the founder, director, and master instructor of the Afrikan Martial Arts Institute. Our main topic was an event scheduled for next year, on October 9-11, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia, called WarriorCon. We spoke with Balogun Ojetade by phone Wednesday. "WarriorCon is a convention that is comprised of panel discussions and workshops, and features the indigenous martial arts of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas," he said. "We're going to have 52 Blocks, Laamb, some of the northwestern and possibly northeastern African martial arts," and training and demonstrations of many other styles and systems as well. We discussed the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for WarriorCon, how the recent rise of interest in African and African-American martial arts and self-defense is related to the rise of white supremacy, the importance of the African Warriors Fighting Championship, the use of these techniques shown at WarriorCon

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the major heavyweight fights which may or may not take place by the end of this year, and the dimming prospects for there being a heavyweight title unification any time soon. The self-proclaimed lineal champion, Tyson Fury, is slated to fight Sept. 14 against little-known Otto Wallin. Unified WBA-IBF-WBO champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua are scheduled to have their rematch Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia. And WBC champion Deontay Wilder may or may not be rematching Luis "King Kong" Ortiz before the year ends. Where this all leads and these fights' accompanying controversies are analyzed, with enhancements by a few select audio clips. 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 prom

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 sh

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the upset TKO victory by Andy Ruiz Jr. over Anthony Joshua Saturday, June 1, at Madison Square Garden, to capture three of the four major heavyweight belts. Many mysteries remain as to why this upset occurred, and these as well as what may happen next and what this means for the future of the heavyweight division are explored, plus much more. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.) 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,