No Holds Barred: Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Jazza Dickens

(Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg photo: Mark Robinson)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the upcoming Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg and Guillermo Rigondeaux-Jazza Dickens super bantamweight fights, and gets comments from the fighters.

The long-awaited title unification fight between the two unbeaten fighters, IBF champion Carl Frampton and WBA champion Scott Quigg, will take place Saturday, February 27, in the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. It will be televised live in the U.K. on Sky Sports Box Office and live in the U.S. on Showtime Extreme.

Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs), of Belfast, Northern Ireland, is known more as a boxer. Quigg (32-0-2, 23 KOs), of Bury, Lancashire, United Kingdom, is seen more as a puncher.

On Saturday, March 12, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters and technicians in the world, and also one of the most avoided fighters in the world, two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) returns to action. He will face a huge underdog, the 24-year-old British super bantamweight champion James "Jazza" Dickens (21-1, 6 KOs). This fight, on the undercard of the Terry Flanagan-Derry Mathews WBO lightweight title fight, takes place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. It will be shown live in the U.K. on BoxNation. Thus far, no U.S. telecast has been announced.

We spoke with Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and Jazza Dickens on recent media conference calls to get their views on their fights and their plans.

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No Holds Barred: Charles Farrell on Guillermo Rigondeaux, Mayweather-Guerrero, the Klitschko Era, and Bad Boxing Writers

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell.

Charles is also co-editor of The Boxing Standard.

The eyes of the combat sports world and the sports world in general will be focused on boxing this weekend, as two of the top fighters in the world are in action Saturday, May 4. Welterweight and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. will face Robert Guerrero in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, while heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko will fight Francesco Pianeta in Mannheim, Germany.

Charles, however, reserved his highest praise for the top 122-pound fighter in the world, Guillermo Rigondeaux, who won an impressive decision victory over Nonito Donaire April 13 in New York.

"I was more than impressed," Charles said of this fight, in an interview recorded Thursday by phone. "I'm comfortable saying that it's the best performance I've seen by anybody in the last half-decade." He added, "That was a performance for the ages. It was a virtuoso performance."

We discussed why and how Rigondeaux was so brilliant in this fight, as well as the myriad of supposed boxing experts and writers who panned it and just did not understand what Rigondeaux was doing to dominate Donaire.

Neither of us expect anything close to an upset in the Mayweather-Guerrero or Klitschko-Pianeta fights, which we also discussed, as well as the careers of both Mayweather and Wladimir and his brother, Vitali Klitschko. We also discussed whether more people will watch Mayweather-Guerrero or Klitschko-Pianeta, why the Abner Mares-Daniel Ponce de Leon featherweight fight might steal the show featuring Mayweather, a relatively impressive performance by heavyweight Bermane Stiverne against Chris Arreola last week, why the best TV boxing commentary in the U.S. is by present and former fighters, and much more.

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

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", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

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

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