On this audio edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and Darren Barker about their October 1 fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

We spoke with both Martinez and Barker at the kickoff news conference for this fight held Wednesday, July 20, in New York. We also spoke with Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella about this fight and why none of the major sanctioning bodies recognize Martinez as middleweight champion, even though Martinez is the linear champion and has not lost since capturing the title last year against Kelly Pavlik. Plus, we spoke with TV host Kristal Hart about this fight and how it epitomizes both the good and bad in boxing.

We open the show with a critique of the Amir Khan-Zab Judah fight, won by Khan with a fifth-round knockout on Saturday, July 23, in Las Vegas. While Khan was dominating the entire fight, the stoppage was controversial since what was ruled as the knockout punch appeared to be below the line separating legal and illegal blows which the referee specified in the prefight instructions. And we criticize the promotion for this fight.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-24T10_59_02-07_00.

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The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter (http://iancarpenter.com).

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

M-1 Global (http://www.m-1global.com). Founded in 1998, M-1 Global has staged over 100 mixed martial arts events worldwide including the M-1 Selection tournaments and M-1 Challenge events, in Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and Asia. While discovering and developing the world's next generation of superstar fighters, M-1 Global's greatest asset is the number one heavyweight in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. Make sure to catch their shows from around the world, including on Showtime in the U.S., and visit their web site, M-1Global.com (http://www.m-1global.com), and the M-1 Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/M-1-Global/145250878842244) for news, videos, and live streaming events.

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American Top Team (http://americantopteam.com). Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com.

The American Sambo Association (http://www.ussambo.com), which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com (http://www.ussambo.com).

Thanks, Eddie Goldman

http://eddiegoldman.com