No Holds Barred With Eddie Goldman

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman busts up the many myths being peddled in the media about how Deontay Wilder's knockout performance against the hapless Dominic Breazeale this past Saturday, May 18, made him into some type of major star. Also discussed is the future of the heavyweight division, the upcoming fight on June 1 of unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz Jr., and much more. (Photo of Deontay Wilder vs. Dominic Breazeale from 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: 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 th

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discussed the prospects in 2019 for a heavyweight title unification fight between WBA-IBF-WBO champ Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) and WBC champ Deontay Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs), as well as a rematch between Wilder and Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs), who fought December 1 to a highly criticized split draw decision. That fight is analyzed, options and obstacles facing all three fighters' next fights are discussed, and much more. (Photo of Wilder vs. Fury by Esther Lin/Showtime.) 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. Jo

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents a two-part, multimedia show and analysis. The written part of the show has an analysis of the Canelo-Golovkin rematch, the emergence of DAZN in the U.S., the PBC deals with Showtime and Fox, the international stardom of Anthony Joshua, and more. It can be read on the No Holds Barred site 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 t

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin, Katie Taylor, and our media colleague Kristal Hart of the "Kristal Hart Show" at last Tuesday's New York media event announcing the U.S. debut of the streaming service DAZN. The 28-year-old unified heavyweight champion Joshua from the U.K., with a record of 21-0 with 20 KOs, fights Povetkin September 22 in London on a card shown in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and in the U.S. as the headline fight for the first live show in the U.S. on DAZN. Povetkin, who turns 39 on September 2, and from Russia, is a former WBA champion and has a record of 34-1 with 24 KOs. We got comments from Povetkin on what to expect in this fight, and some very brief comments from Joshua. Unified women's lightweight champion Katie Taylor, with a record of 9-0 and 4 KOs, has a very busy schedule coming up. She fights July 28 in London on the Dillian Whyte-Joseph Parker card, and returns on October 6 in Chicago against Cindy Serra

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Dr. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist, the former chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and the president and board chairman of VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. We spoke with her Saturday in New York. "The best aspect of what VADA has accomplished is education," she said. "The fans are much more educated. I think the fighters are getting much more educated, and asking more and more questions." She noted that while the WBC's Clean Boxing Program which works with VADA only mandates that boxers ranked in the top 15 in each weight class by the WBC be drug-tested, more fighters are actually applying to be tested. "What people don't know is there's probably at least well over 100 fighters that have volunteered that are not rated by the WBC, have volunteered to that program, and many of them have been tested by VADA, and this is throughout the year." In order to clarify just what VADA

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents Monday's telephone press conference held by the lawyers for Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, who became a key whistleblower exposing Russia's state-sponsored doping program for Olympic and other elite athletes. The main speakers, both representing Dr. Rodchenkov, were attorneys Jim Walden of Walden Macht & Haran, and Derek Borchardt of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. This press conference was held to announce that Dr. Rodchenkov, through his lawyers, had filed a motion to dismiss a libel case brought in the names of three Russian biathletes: Olga Zaytseva, Yana Romanova and Olga Vilukhina. Dr. Rodchenkov also filed his own lawsuit against Russian oligarch and Brooklyn Nets' controlling owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who Dr. Rodchenkov's lawyers said is "the self-confessed financier of the biathletes' claims", for violation of New York's anti-SLAPP statute (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participati

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 Tuesday. Our main topic was the biggest fight of the year so far, the heavyweight title unification fight taking place this Saturday, March 31, between the two undefeated belt holders Anthony Joshua of the U.K. and Joseph Parker of New Zealand. The 28-year-old Joshua is the IBF and WBA champ and has a record of 20-0 with 20 KOs. The 26-year-old Parker is the WBO champ and has a record of 24-0 with 18 KOs. This fight takes place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It will be televised live on Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K., Showtime in the U.S., and many other networks around the world. We discussed how we see this fight going, why Joshua is deservedly a big favorite, what is likely to happen in the series of events which may lead to the crowning of an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the many

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with human right activist Malaak Shabazz, who is the youngest daughter of Malcolm X. With February being designated Black History Month, she has been traveling to many events which have provided information and analysis on the life and times of her father. She has just returned home to New York from Washington, D.C., from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, where there was a screening of the new documentary "The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X". This documentary will begin airing on TV February 26 on the Smithsonian Channel. Next up is Los Angeles for the Pan African Film Festival, where on February 9 there will be the first of three screenings of the documentary film "Malcolm X: An Overwhelming Influence on the Black Power Movement". This highly acclaimed film, directed by Thomas Muhammad, had its public debut in December at the the African Diaspora International Film Festival in New York. It features or

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the "Black Fist Self-Defense Project", a Russian troll operation which paid for self-defense classes to be held in the Black community in America in 2017. Explained are the background to their engaging legitimate and unknowing people in this scam, the objectives of the Russian trolls, and how this was part of a broader campaign that was Russia's failed version of COINTELPRO, the notorious program of the American FBI to disrupt, discredit, infiltrate, and destroy numerous anti-war, Black Liberation, civil rights, women's, progressive, leftist, and revolutionary organizations in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Also explained are how the media in Russia and the U.S. exposed "Black Fist" including the Russian site RBC and the U.S. TV show "The Rundown with Robin Thede", why this scam failed, and much more. 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 son

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Dr. Bennet Omalu. He was in New York Monday, August 7, to give a presentation at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York, and hosted by the New York Press Club, about his new book, Truth Doesn't Have a Side. Dr. Omalu is the pioneering forensic pathologist who was the first to prove a connection between the head trauma and brain injuries which inherently result from playing American football, and the disease CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We spoke with him right after this presentation, and mainly about why he included wrestling in his list of high-contact sports which children under the age of 18 should avoid, which are football, boxing, MMA, ice hockey, and rugby. A study published September 2015 in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that college wrestling has the highest rate of concussions of any college sport, including football. But as to rules changes in wrestling to make it safer, Dr. Omalu s

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the complete audio from the August 7 presentation by Dr. Bennet Omalu at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York, and hosted by the New York Press Club, as well as the informative and lively question-and-answer session which followed the presentation. Dr. Omalu is the pioneering forensic pathologist who was the first to prove a connection between the head trauma and brain injuries which inherently result from playing American football, and the disease CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He was in New York conducting interviews as part of a tour to promote his new book, Truth Doesn't Have a Side. In the discussion, Dr. Omalu passionately voiced his opposition to children under the age of 18 playing American football or engaging in other contact sports. "Do you love your child less than you love football? Which do you love more, football, or the life of your child? This is a question society should answer," he said. As to the co

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the heavyweight maze which so many fighters want to get through to get a title shot at the division's best and most popular fighter, IBF and WBA champion Anthony Joshua. This past week, the 41-year-old former champion Wladimir Klitschko announced his retirement from boxing. We discuss the positives and negatives from his lengthy career. The scramble to get big money title fights is often inhibited or even prevented by the various rival sanctioning bodies naming undeserving and little known fighters as mandatory challengers for their champions. We discuss the mess with the various heavyweight mandatories put forth by the WBA, WBC, and IBF, a mess which has gotten worse since Klitschko's retirement. We also discuss what may be ahead for WBC champ Deontay Wilder, who wants to fight Joshua next; for Luis "King Kong" Ortiz, now Joshua's WBA mandatory, while no one seems to want to fight him; for Joshua, who seems to be set to face his IBF mandator

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell. We spoke with him in New York Wednesday at a book party for a new book in which he is one of the featured writers, The Bittersweet Science. His contribution is an essay called "Why I Fixed Fights", and that is the topic we discussed. 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 2017 Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Saturday, July 15, 2017, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance (CWA) and co-sponsored by City of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, Sprout Living (official protein pow

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell. He is also one of the writers featured in the new book The Bittersweet Science. Our main topic was the April 29 heavyweight title unification fight between the 27-year-old IBF champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) and the 41-year-old former champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs). This fight, which is also for a vacant WBA title, takes place at the sold-out 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London. It will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and in Germany on RTL, with record viewership likely on each. In the U.S., Showtime will telecast it live, with HBO later showing a replay. We spoke with Charles Farrell by phone Thursday. While both of us expect Joshua to defeat Klitschko by knockout, we see this fight as having far more significance than just a heavyweight title bout. "For one thing, it establishes the next dominant heavyweigh

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, Eddie Hearn, Kristal Hart, and Bob Carson at the January 31 press conference at Madison Square Garden for the April 29 fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko. The 27-year-old Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who holds the IBF heavyweight belt, will face the veteran former champion Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), who will be 41 at the time of the fight, at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London. This fight, which is also for a WBA title, will be shown live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and in Germany on RTL, with record viewership likely on each. As of now, both Showtime and HBO are vying for the U.S. TV rights. As part of a world tour to promote this fight, both Joshua and Klitschko held this New York press conference January 31, along with Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, and Bernd Boente of KMG Management Group. The press conference was hosted by announcer Adam Smith of Sky Sport

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses whether 2017 will be the year that IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) becomes the most popular boxer in the world and the best known since Muhammad Ali. Joshua's next fight is April 29 against former champion Wladimir Klitschko, at London's historic Wembley Stadium. We also discuss some parallels between Joshua's rise to prominence and Muhammad Ali's, the anti-Muslim bigotry Joshua has faced, Joshua's international appeal, whether he can restore boxing's heavyweight championship to being the most prestigious title in all of sports, how 2016 was a breakthrough year for Joshua, what we can expect from the Joshua-Klitschko fight, and much more. (Photo of Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium by Lawrence Lustig.) 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 i

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the audio from the teleconference of the December 9 London press conference with Professor Richard H. McLaren, law professor at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) enlisted Prof. McLaren to lead the investigation and to issue a report about media reports of state-sponsored doping in Russia in sport. This is the second and final part of that report, and was made public Friday. The first part was issued on July 18, 2016. Key Highlights of 2nd Report Institutionalised Doping Conspiracy and Cover Up 1. An institutional conspiracy existed across summer and winter sports athletes who participated with Russian officials within the Ministry of Sport and its infrastructure, such as the RUSADA, CSP and the Moscow Laboratory, along with the FSB for the purposes of manipulating doping controls. The summer and winter sports athletes were not acting individually but within an organised infrastructure as repor

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Russian athletes to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which start August 5, despite unimpeachable evidence of Russia having a massive state-sponsored doping program. In light of this historic scandal, and the failure of the IOC to take appropriate measures, we officially crown both the IOC and Russia as the world champions of sport corruption. Also discussed are some of the lessons from this scandal, including that silence is consent; that no athletes, especially among the youth, or organizations should pursue the path of becoming part of these discredited and dirty Olympics; and that the emphasis instead should be on building grassroots sports. 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 Hol

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the audio from Monday's teleconference of the Toronto press conference with Professor Richard H. McLaren, law professor at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) enlisted Prof. McLaren to lead the investigation and to issue a report about media reports of state-sponsored doping in Russia in sport. The 103-page Independent McLaren Investigation Report was also made public Monday. The three key findings of this report are: 1. The Moscow Laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology. 2. The Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Games. 3. The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistanc

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the life and times of "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali, who passed away Friday, June 3, at the age of 74. Discussed are how Ali was in essence a man of his times, how he transcended boxing and all sports in a way that has not been seen before or since, the historical context in which he developed as a person and as a boxer, his ties with Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, his relationship to the Black Liberation Movement, how his opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam was vindicated, and much more. 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 free to listen to and is sponsored by: The Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Sunday, July 3, 2016, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the