On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz about their fight coming up on Saturday, April 16, and recaps the surprisingly delightful and brutal battle between Marcos Maidana and Erik Morales on April 9.

Many observers expected a one-sided affair, and even a brutal beatdown, when slugger Marcos Maidana took on the aging but classical Mexican veteran Erik Morales in a junior welterweight fight on April 9 in Las Vegas. But as their battle ensued, it not only proved to be highly competitive, but riveting and dramatic as it advanced from round to round. With his right eye cut in the first round and then swollen shut, Morales managed to fight on and stay in the fight until almost the end. While Maidana, now 30-2 with 27 KOs, won a majority decision over Morales, now 51-7 with 35 KOs, this war was a genuine fight of the year candidate. We analyze the context of this fight, how it looked going in like another example of the kinds of fights which have stripped boxing of any credibility, and how it ended up becoming one of the most compelling if brutal fights of recent memory. And we compare it to the main events on the major mixed martial arts cards this past weekend.

This coming Saturday, April 16, there is yet another fight which could turn out to be a surprise to the skeptics and cynics, who are usually correct in their (and our) assessments of professional boxing. Unbeaten WBC welterweight Andre Berto (27-0. 21 KOs) will fight Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs), who is moving up from the junior welterweight division. This fight will take place at the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, and be shown live in the U.S. on HBO.

While Berto is the favorite, Ortiz, who once was touted by his promoters, Golden Boy Promotions, as the next big thing, is not happy with being viewed as an opponent. His loss to Maidana and draw with Lamont Peterson have removed him from consideration as an elite fighter, and that may serve as motivation for him to attempt to make a statement in what some consider a showcase fight for Berto. But Berto is highly confident as well, which may make for another week of a surprisingly competitive and thrilling main event in the major card in boxing.

We spoke with both Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz at the kickoff news conference for this fight in New York. We also spoke with Kristal Hart, who hosts The Kristal Hart Show in New York on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, about what to expect in this fight.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-04-10T12_36_40-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?9nizkc4imikzp36. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

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:

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

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

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the Joseph King Kong Agbeko-Abner Mares fight coming up April 23, reviews the recent series of upsets in boxing including the victory by Victor Ortiz over Andre Berto on April 16, and discusses the implications of the U.S. government indictment of the founders of the three major online poker sites and the shutting down of those sites.

IBF bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) of Accra, Ghana, and the Bronx, New York, will defend his title against the unbeaten Abner Mares (21-0-1, 13 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, in the finals of the Showtime bantamweight tournament. This fight will take place Saturday, April 23, at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles, and will be telecast in the U.S. on Showtime. 

We spoke with Joseph Agbeko at a recent media workout at John's Boxing Gym in the South Bronx about what to expect in this fight. We also hear Abner Mares talk about this fight during a recent media conference call.

Not only has there been a rash of unexpected results of late in boxing, but it also is just as unexpected that so many upsets have been taking place at all in a sport where promoters and networks like to control the outcomes of fights through careful matchmaking as much as possible. The latest of these upsets in major fights took place in the main events on Saturday night, April 16, on both HBO and Showtime.

Victor Ortiz was still trying to live down accusations of being a quitter after indicating that he no longer wanted to fight in his 2009 TKO loss to Marcos Maidana, and a safety-first draw with Lamont Peterson in 2010. Now moving up to welterweight to face the then-unbeaten WBC champion Andre Berto, Ortiz vowed to prove that he had the heart of a fighter and a champion, and that his critics were wrong. Ortiz certainly re-established himself as a fighter to watch, as he won a bruising 12-round decision over Berto in the main event at the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut. In that fight, yet another fight of the year candidate, both fighters were knocked down twice. We discuss that fight, as well as the upset victory by Orlando Salido against another previously-unbeaten fighter, Juan Manuel Lopez, in front of a pro-Lopez crowd in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

On Friday, April 15, it was announced that eleven defendants, including the founders of the three largest Internet poker companies doing business in the United States - PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker  - had been indicted in the U.S. Southern District of New York on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses. The domain names of these online poker sites were also seized by the U.S, government. According to U.S. law, Internet gambling is illegal within the U.S. One of these three poker companies, Full Tilt Poker, has been a major sponsor of mixed martial arts fighters, especially of late in Strikeforce.

We discuss the implications of these charges, and how they highlight the need for an international sports anti-corruption agency. We also hear the question about this asked of Jacque Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, at a recent news conference by Jens Andersen, the International Director of the anti-corruption organization Play the Game (http://www.playthegame.org).

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-04-17T16_06_38-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?zlu416o3rywp3f3. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

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 (http://www.facebook.com/pages/M-1-Global/145250878842244) page for news, videos, and live streaming events.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

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

On this audio edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses some of the latest downs and ups in the world of boxing, and reports from the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz news conference in New York, which took place Tuesday, June 28.

After a 16-month hiatus from the ring, the unbeaten Mayweather will return on September 17 against the WBC welterweight champion Ortiz in a fight in Las Vegas and on HBO Pay-Per-View. Both fighters have also agreed to undergo Olympic-style drug-testing administered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), including random, unannounced blood and urine testing.

We spoke with Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, about the issue of drug-testing and the importance of this fight. We also got some comments from Floyd Mayweather on drug-testing, which may surprise some people, as well as on this fight.

After the news conference, we sat down with our correspondent and colleague Keisha Morrisey, who also covered the news conference, to discuss the Mayweather-Ortiz fight, the problems in the marketing of boxing, the latest hometown decisions in boxing, and more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-28T17_41_54-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?j8it28wvrdjxvjf. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

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.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

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