No Holds Barred: Santa Cruz Stars in PBC's Biggest Triumph

(Photos by Suzanne Teresa, Premier Boxing Champions)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares and Julio Ceja-Hugo Ruiz fights on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card from the Staples Center in Los Angeles held Saturday, August 29. This card was shown live in the U.S. on ESPN.

In the main event, Santa Cruz (31-0-1, 17 KOs) won a majority decision over Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) in a 12-round featherweight fight. In this incredible fight, over 2000 punches were thrown, with Santa Cruz landing 373 of 1057 thrown, and Mares landing 227 of 980 thrown.

In the co-feature, Julio Ceja (30-1, 27 KOs) rebounded from a third-round knockdown to win by TKO over Hugo Ruiz (35-2, 30 KOs) at 2:34 of the fifth round in their super bantamweight fight.

We discuss why this fight makes Santa Cruz a major star and top pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, how this was PBC's best show since they started running in March of this year, why PBC need better announcing, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

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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:

American Top Team. 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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

No Holds Barred: The PBC Deluge, Roman Martinez, Orlando Salido, Santa Cruz-Mares Preview

(Photo of Leo Santa Cruz from Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions. Photo of Abner Mares from Abel Madrid.)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the deluge of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) shows coming up in the next month, previews the Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares fight coming up this Saturday, August 29, and spoke with Roman Martinez and Orlando Salido, who fight on September 12 on the Mayweather-Berto pay-per-view.

According to the PBC's schedule, they will be having a total of ten televised shows in the U.S. between August 29 and September 29, with many more planned in the months to come. All will be live and on non-premium networks, including NBC (2), CBS (1), ESPN (1), Spike (1), Bounce TV (1), and Fox Sports 1 (4), where PBC begins a weekly Tuesday night telecast September 8. Most of these shows are in prime time, with many fights also being shown internationally.

The first of these PBC cards will take place this Saturday, August 29. The feature bout pits Leo Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17 KOs) against Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs). This fight will be at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be shown live in the U.S. on ESPN. This will only be the second fight at featherweight for Santa Cruz, who has held belts at bantamweight and super bantamweight. Mares has held belts at bantamweight, super bantamweight, and featherweight, and we discuss the stakes involved in what should be a very competitive fight.

Roman Martinez (29-2-2, 17 KOs), who holds the WBO junior lightweight belt, will have a rematch September 12 with Orlando Salido (42-13-2, 29 KOs) of their April 11, 2015, fight of the year candidate, which Martinez won by unanimous decision. This will be part of the Showtime pay-per-view headlined by the Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto fight.

We spoke with both Roman Martinez and Orlando Salido on Monday's media conference call.

We also discussed the significance of all this for boxing and televised sports, why this is an important month for PBC, the build-up to the September 12 Mayweather-Berto Showtime pay-per-view, the role of Al Haymon and the future of PBC, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free 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:

American Top Team. 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 AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Gracie Tournaments, featuring regional, national, and world competitions in submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. For more information, go to GracieWorlds.com.

No Holds Barred: Mares-Agbeko 2 and Moreno-Darchinyan Previews

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the highly-anticipated rematch between IBF bantamweight champion Abner Mares and the former two-time IBF bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko, and the fight between WBA bantamweight super champion Anselmo Moreno and former two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan.

These two fights take place Saturday, December 3, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and will be telecast live in the U.S. on Showtime.

The first fight between Mares (22-0-1, 13 KOs), who was a Mexican Olympian in 2004 and now lives in California, and Agbeko (28-3, 22 KOs), from Accra, Ghana, and now fighting out of the Bronx, New York, was held August 13, 2011, in Las Vegas. While it was officially ruled a majority decision win for Mares, it was marred by a major controversy since Mares landed numerous low blows but was not penalized by referee Russell Mora. Mares even dropped Agbeko with a clear-cut shot to the groin in the 11th round, but the referee ruled it a legal knockdown. This fight was the final bout in the Showtime bantamweight tournament, but since it generated so much heated controversy, an immediate rematch was scheduled.

Although Moreno (31-1-1, 11 KOs), from Panama City, Panama, holds a WBA bantamweight belt and is highly regarded as a skillful boxer, most of his fights have been in his home country, and he has never before fought in the U.S. The slugger Darchinyan (37-3-1, 27 KOs), originally from Armenia and now fighting out of Sydney, Australia, is coming off two straight wins after losing a split decision to Mares in the opening round of the Showtime bantamweight tournament.

With Nonito Donaire moving up to super bantamweight, the winners of these fights will stake a claim to being the best bantamweight boxer in the world.

We spoke with Abner Mares, Anselmo Moreno, and Vic Darchinyan on a recent media conference call (Agbeko was also scheduled for that call but never made it on). We got their views on what to expect in their fights. We also heard Abner Mares candidly discuss the controversy in his first fight with Joseph Agbeko, and what he would have done differently if the referee had taken points away from him for low blows.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

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

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

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. 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.

American Top Team. 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, 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.