No Holds Barred With Eddie Goldman

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).Our guest was Kieran Cunningham, the Chief Sports Writer and Current Affairs Columnist at the Irish Daily Star.We spoke with him by Zoom Sunday, January 30, the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday -- a bloody massacre when British soldiers opened fire killing 13 unarmed peaceful protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland.  Cunningham explained the significance of Bloody Sunday and its impact on the Irish boxing community, including retired boxer John Duddy, whose uncle, Jackie Duddy, a promising young amateur fighter, was the first person murdered.  As a sports writer, Cunningham is perhaps best known for his in-depth reporting on the impact of criminal gangs o

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).Our guest was Heather "The Heat" Hardy.We spoke with her by Zoom Sunday, January 23.Heather "The Heat" Hardy, 22-2, returns to the ring on March 12th as the opponent against British fighter, Terri Harper, 11-1-1. Both are coming into the ring at lightweight after tough losses. Hardy concedes her last outing was less than stellar, but she feels a renewed sense of love for the sport of boxing and an excitement at the prospect of her first overseas adventure. She’s also looking forward to fight week and all the attendant media attention, something she has missed in the era of the pandemic. As she turns 40, Hardy reflects on the arc of her career, one that s

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).Our guest was one of the top boxers in the world, multi-divisional champion Claressa Shields (11-0, 2 KOs). She is the first boxer in the four-belt era to be an undisputed world champion in two weight classes.We spoke with her by Zoom Thursday, January 13.On February 5, Claressa Shields is scheduled to defend her three middleweight belts against challenger Ema Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KOs). This fight will take place in Cardiff, Wales, in the U.K., and is the co-main event to the long-awaited middleweight fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Liam Williams. In the U.K., it will be shown on Sky Sports. In the U.S. and Canada, it will be on pay-per-view on FITE.TV a

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Monday, December 27.It's been a long, hard, interesting year for boxing. We wrap some of it up with our First Annual You Don't Know Shit About Boxing Awards 2021, to find out the winner of the Worst Promoter, Worst Boxing Commission, Worst Corner Advice, Worst Promotion of an Elite Fighter, Epic Ali Genealogy Fail, and more!All this is part of our in-depth coverage of the corrupt world of boxing and sports governance in general.Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content, at https://www.patreon.com/join/eddiegoldman/checkout.Now you can also support our independen

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Monday, December 20.It was a busy boxing weekend, from Artur Beterbiev's knockout win over Marcus Browne in Montreal, Quebec, on December 17, to the clown show on Showtime's pay-per-view on December 18. It did not go unnoticed that in the U.S., the only boxing non-streaming or pay-per-view broadcast of the many fights on December 18 was the PBC card on Fox in Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring the David Morrell Jr. vs. Alantez Fox super middleweight, curious towel-throwing finish, fight, for Morrell's TKO win. Governance was also called into question during Marie-Eve Dicaire's IBF super welterweight title fight, also in Montreal, agains

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Sunday, December 12.This past week saw major developments in the attempt by the Olympic boxing federation -- formerly AIBA and now renamed as the International Boxing Association (IBA) -- to regain its place on the Olympic program.On December 9, IOC president Thomas Bach said in a press conference that AIBA, along with the International Weightlifting Federation, were the IOC's "problem children". AIBA would remain suspended from the IOC until at least 2023, and needs to correct ongoing problems in governance, financial transparency and sustainability, and the integrity of their refereeing and judging processes. Boxing also was not incl

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Sunday, November 28.Our main focus was on two major title unification fights this past weekend, and the accompanying controversies in each of them. In a major upset, George Kambosos Jr. captured the WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight belts from previously unbeaten Teofimo Lopez by split decision. Almost all observers had Kambosos clearly winning this fight.In a fight to unify the WBC and WBO 122-pound belts, Stephen Fulton Jr. defeated Brandon Figueroa by majority decision. Even though this was a close fight, many people thought that Figueroa had done enough to win, or at least it should have been scored a draw.Besides discussing the rest o

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Sunday, November 21.We discussed Terence Crawford's tenth round stoppage of Shawn Porter to establish himself as the top welterweight in the world, and what may be next for him now that he is a free agent and no longer under contract to Top Rank. We discussed Kali Reis's split decision win over Jessica Camara to set up a fight with Chantelle Cameron to unify the major belts at 140 pounds. We discussed unified lightweight champ Teofimo Lopez's upcoming fight with George Kambosos Jr. and heard comments from Lopez on this fight. And we discussed how and why the ongoing failure of boxing to have the best fight the best, plus the pay-per-vi

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Monday, November 15.Our discussion focused on two major, exciting fights which took place Saturday, November 13. In Sheffield in the U.K., Alycia Baumgardner dominated Terri Harper and stopped her in the fourth round to unify the WBC and IBF super featherweight belts. In Phoenix, Arizona, unbeaten super middleweight David Benavidez scored a seventh-round stoppage over Kyrone Davis to advance his claim to have a shot at undisputed super middleweight champ Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.We discussed these fights, what's next for Baumgardner and Benavidez, this coming weekend's Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter fight, and much more.All this is part of

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Sunday, November 7.This past Saturday, November 6, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez cemented his status as the best boxer in the world with an 11th-round KO of previously unbeaten Caleb Plant in Las Vegas. In doing so, he not only unified all the four major belts in the super middleweight division, but finished this year with three straight stoppage victories. He has now won belts in four weight classes, has a record of 57-1-2 with 39 KOs, and has not lost since 2013 when, as a 23-year-old, he was decisioned by then-top pound-for-pound fighter Floyd Mayweather.We discussed Canelo's fight with Plant, why in boxing this is the Canelo Era, what may

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of the WAAR Room (https://waarsports.com) and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing (https://girlboxing.org) on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the WAAR Sports YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW16qQlnyWR-xyd2jZF1IA).We spoke with them Sunday, October 31.We had a busy weekend of boxing with two fantastic championship women's bouts including the first of two Super Lightweight unification bouts. This weekend the WBC/IBF unification battle was fought between between the WBC British fighter Chantelle Cameron (15-0, 8 KOs) and the IBF American champion Mary McGee (27-4, 15 KOs). The pair battled wall-to-wall for ten rounds with Cameron showing the superior boxing skills, getting the undisputed win and the first Ring Magazine Championship belt to boot. The second amazing women's boxing battle was between two veteran Mexican fighters: Jackie Nava (39-4-4, 16 KOs) and Marian

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 Monday, October 25.Women's boxing is well past the time when it should be thought of as an afterthought, a side show, or a joke. With this generation's crop of brilliant fighters of the likes of Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor, and Amanda Serrano -- not to mention the women who will be competing over the next few weeks to include two unification title bouts at super lightweight and the super fight at super bantamweight for the WBC Diamond belt between two of Mexico's greatest fighters, Mariana Juarez, known as "La Barbie", and Jackie "La Princesa Azteca" Nava, this Saturday -- we'd say women's boxing is alive and very well indeed, thank you.But what will it take to push the sport into the 21st century where it belongs? Sure, Showtime's Step

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.While many are still discussing Tyson Fury's defense of his WBC heavyweight belt, less attention is being paid, especially in the boxing media, to the man whom he said is his advisor, Daniel Kinahan. According to promoter Bob Arum, Kinahan is also an advisor to the unbeaten WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford, the unbeaten and undisputed 140-pound champ Josh Taylor, and WBO super featherweight champ Jamel Herring. Kinahan was co-founder of what is now the management company MTK Global, although officially it is claimed that he is no longer formally a part of it. Among MTK Global's many dozens of fighters is the unbeaten WBO middleweight champ Savannah Marshall, who appears headed to a showdown next year with two-division unbeaten champion Claressa Shields.

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our discussion took place Sunday, October 10.We discussed Saturday's third fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, held in Las Vegas. Fury retained his WBC heavyweight belt with an 11th-round KO. While the fight was certainly entertaining with many dramatic twists and turns, we explained why this was not the "instant classic" some have labeled it, and was instead plagued by numerous technical and tactical blunders by both fighters. Our reactions to it are similar to that of discussing a one-night stand the day right after it happened, when sober thinking has finally returned. We also began a discussion of the ties between Fury and alleged organized crime kingpin Daniel Kinahan. Malissa Smith also discussed Saturday's victory by Jamie Mitchell over

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our discussion took place Sunday, October 3.We finally have proof of what many already knew or suspected: Much of Olympic boxing has been fixed.On September 30, an independent report, mainly focusing on boxing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was released by an investigative team led by Professor Richard McLaren. His team also had helped document the Russian state-sponsored doping program in the Olympics.This report documented how officials in AIBA, the Olympic boxing federation, fixed the selection of referees and judges at the fights in the 2016 Olympics, how they manipulated results, the culture of corruption and bribery in Olympic boxing, and how these corrupt practices were carried out and enabled by the top leadership in AIBA at the time.As the report st

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our discussion took place Sunday, September 26.This past Saturday, former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk upset unified heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua by a clearcut unanimous decision to capture all of his heavyweight belts. We discussed why and how this upset happened, if the gun-shy Joshua needs a new trainer, if Joshua was just burnt out, how Usyk has been underappreciated, how Joshua has regressed as a fighter, what's next for both fighters and the heavyweight division, and much more. And we also discussed some of the latest news in women's boxing.(Photo by Ian Walton/Matchroom Boxing.)Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred content.Now you can also support our independent,

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our special guest was Dr. Lisa Kihl, Institute Director of the University of Minnesota's Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations.This discussion took place Friday, September 17.Corruption, doping, and rape in sports are widespread. The growth of sports gambling, both legal and illegal, also has posed another danger to the integrity of sports.To start to address this, Dr. Kihl is advocating the formation of a "national sport integrity system". Her work at the Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations has a focus on "Introducing a framework conceptualizing a national sport integrity system that aims to promote and safeguard integrity within national sport organizations."We spoke with her about the steps needed to be taken to accomp

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our discussion took place Sunday, September 12.Our main topic was the Triller trash boxing show of September 11, and particularly the utter disgrace of putting 58-year-old Evander Holyfield in the main event fight. Holyfield was quickly TKO'd in the first round. We discussed boxing's devolution from the sweet science into being a sadistic spectacle like this, how these circus fights have become the dominant trend in boxing, how this is related to boxing's purposely corrupt and fragmented governance, why there must be new legislation to regulate boxing, and much more.All this is part of our in-depth coverage of the corrupt world of boxing and sports governance in general.Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleagues Chris Baldwin of Angry Afro Radio and Malissa Smith of Girlboxing on the WAAR Room. A video of this discussion has also been posted on the Angry Afro Radio YouTube page.Our discussion took place Sunday, September 5.We discussed the death of 18-year-old Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, who passed this week from injuries sustained in a bout in Montreal. We also discussed how WBC super featherweight champ Oscar Valdez, who failed a doping test for the WBC's Clean Boxing Program conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, will still be allowed to fight and defend his WBC belt on September 10. And we addressed the startling controversy involving Amanda and Cindy Serrano and their trainer/manager Jordan Maldonado.All this is part of our in-depth coverage of the corrupt world of boxing and sports governance in general.Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more exclusive premium No Holds Barred

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with the writer, author, professor, and wrestler, Antonio Graceffo.We spoke with him by phone Saturday, August 21.Antonio Graceffo was born in Brooklyn, raised in Tennessee, and has been living for many years in Asia -- hence his moniker, the "Brooklyn Monk". He is currently located in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, where he teaches, writes, and wrestles.In Mongolia, wrestling is a major sport in which many boys train and compete from a young age. The main style of Mongolian wrestling is known as Bokh. It is one of the main sports at the annual Nadaam festival. Since the 13th century and the days of Genghis Khan, the Nadaam festival has featured wrestling, archery, and horse racing. Although the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival to be cancelled this year, it is normally held each year in mid-July."The first official Nadaam was inaugurated by Genghis Khan himself," said Antonio Graceffo. "Each year when they celebrate Nadaam,