No Holds Barred: John Perretti on Alexander-Kotelnik and Cloud-Johnson; Arreola-Quezada Preview

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with former world kickboxing champion, former UFC and Extreme Fighting matchmaker, and our current senior correspondent, John Perretti, about the Devon Alexander-Andriy Kotelnik and Tavoris Cloud-Glen Johnson fights, which took place August 7 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs) retained his WBC and IBF 140-pound titles with a unanimous decision over Kotelnik (31-4-1, 13 KOs). Cloud (21-0, 18 KOs) retained his IBF light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Johnson (50-14-2, 34 KOs).

As is our usual approach, we candidly delved into the lessons learned about the talents of each of these fighters at the current stages of their careers. We analyzed some of their major shortcomings, especially those of the 23-year-old Alexander, whom some have touted as the next big superstar in boxing. We criticized the way the HBO announcers called and scored these fights. We explained why, at this point at least, Alexander is likely to fall short in any title unification fights with WBA champion Amir Khan or the unbeaten WBO champion Timothy Bradley.

Also, this coming Friday, August 13, heavyweights Cristobal Arreola (28-2, 25 KOs) and Manuel Quezada (29-5, 18 KOs), who have trained together and have both lost their previous fights, will fight at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, in the main event on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights". We spoke with both Arreola and Quezada on a recent media conference call about their approaches to this important fight.

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