No Holds Barred: Sergio Martinez, Darren Barker, Lou DiBella, Kristal Hart, Khan-Judah Critique

(Photo: John James/DiBella Entertainment)

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.

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The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.

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