No Holds Barred: Andre Ward, Paul Smith, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence Jr.; Plus Bob Mayeri on Wilder-Molina

(Photograph of Deontay Wilder and Eric Molina by Bob Mayeri)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews this Saturday's Andre Ward-Paul Smith, Shawn Porter-Adrien Broner, and Errol Spence Jr.-Roberto Garcia fights, and reviews with our correspondent Bob Mayeri this past Saturday's Deontay Wilder-Eric Molina fight.

The 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward, with a spotless record of 27-0 and 14 KOs, and still holding a super middleweight title, will be returning to the ring after an absence of 19 months, due to injuries and legal battles. His opponent in what he refuses to call a tune-up fight is British fighter and TV commentator Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs), who is coming off two consecutive close losses to slugger Arthur Abraham. This fight will take place at a catch weight of 172 pounds.

The Andre Ward-Paul Smith fight headlines a Throne Boxing card, presented by Roc Nation Sports, this Saturday, June 20, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. It will be televised live in the U.S. on BET and streamed globally on Tidal.com at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT, as well as shown in the U.K. on Sky Sports.

Earlier the same day, former world champion Shawn Porter (25-1-1, 16 KOs) will face another former world champion, Adrien Broner (30-1, 22 KOs), in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions on NBC (PBC on NBC) card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This fight, also at a catch weight, will be at a limit of 144 pounds. The co-feature will have unbeaten prospect Errol Spence Jr. (16-0, 13 KOs) facing veteran Roberto Garcia (37-3, 23 KOs) in a ten-round welterweight bout.

The PBC on NBC telecast, this Saturday, June 20, begins in the U.S. at 8:30 PM ET/5:30 PM PT, and will also be shown in the U.K. on Sky Sports.

We spoke with Andre Ward, Paul Smith, Shawn Porter, and Errol Spence Jr. on Monday's media conference calls.

In his comments, Andre Ward discussed what needs to happen for him to become a mega-star like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Paul Smith explained why he is inspired to do his best in this fight, even though the card is aimed at showcasing the return of Andre Ward.

Shawn Porter discussed what he has learned in his career and why he believes he will defeat Adrien Broner. Broner no-showed the conference call. Also, Errol Spence Jr. discussed why Roberto Garcia is the most experienced and one of the toughest fighters he will face. Garcia was unavailable for the conference call.

In addition, we spoke about the ninth-round knockout win by WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) over journeyman Eric Molina (23-3, 17 KOs) this past Saturday, June 13, in Birmingham, Alabama, with Bob Mayeri, who was covering and photographing that fight live in the Bartow Arena. We also discussed what might be next for Wilder, how he might fare against the top heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko, and what might be learned by those running the sport of wrestling from the promotion of this fight.

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No Holds Barred: Charles Farrell on Stevenson-Bika, Mayweather-Pacquiao Scenarios, and PBC So Far

(Photo credit: Amanda Kwok / PBC on CBS)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell, who is also co-editor of The Boxing Standard.

The Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series made its debut on CBS in the U.S. on Saturday, April 4, headlined by a fight from Quebec City's Pepsi Coliseum featuring WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (26-1, 21 KOs) winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Sakio Bika (32-7-3, 21 KOs). This followed PBC cards on March 7 on NBC and March 13 on Spike TV, with many more scheduled in the coming weeks and months.

To discuss these, as well as the May 2 mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas and other upcoming bouts, we spoke with Charles Farrell by phone Sunday.

Regarding the progress of the PBC in its first month of televised cards, he said, "I certainly think that putting them on NBC, CBS, even Spike, opens up the door for a lot of potentially interesting things." While there has been "some but not great success" in the quality and presentation of these cards, there are still numerous problems.

"The one thing that you can't do is you can't necessarily guarantee that you're going to get great fights. And yesterday they had a problem," referring to the Stevenson-Bika fight.

Part of it was "not very good matchmaking" pitting Stevenson against Bika, who has never been knocked out and is known as an awkward and sometimes dirty fighter.

"Adonis Stevenson underperformed in a way that they didn't expect and probably was hard to predict, and he didn't do what he needed to do," he said.

Commentary, much of it ill-informed, is already filling up the sports media about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. But already there has been some open speculation about one possible scenario in this fight: that the fight goes all 12 rounds, that the unbeaten Mayweather (47-0) deserves to win a clear-cut decision, and that he is robbed of it, thus ensuring an incredibly lucrative rematch.

With high stakes betting taking place on this fight and all the money involved, "The logic is to rob Mayweather," he said. We discussed this scenario as well as several others for this bout.

In addition, we discussed many upcoming fights including this coming Saturday's Garcia-Peterson and Quillin-Lee fights on NBC; why Stevenson must next fight the undefeated Sergey Kovalev; the corporate feel of the PBC cards; problems with the announcers on them; 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:

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.

No Holds Barred: Charles Farrell on PBC on NBC Boxing, Mayweather-Pacquiao, and the State of Boxing

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague, correspondent, and award-winning boxing writer, Charles Farrell, who is also co-editor of The Boxing Standard.

The return of boxing to network TV in the U.S. and the announcement that the long-awaited mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will take place May 2 have sparked much interest and discussion about the state of boxing.

Saturday's debut PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) on NBC show featured an exciting decision victory by Keith Thurman over Robert Guerrero and a not-so-exciting decision victory by Adrien Broner over John Molina Jr.

According to the Nielsen Ratings, the PBC on NBC telecast averaged 3.4 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched professional boxing broadcast in 17 years (Oscar De La Hoya’s Fight Night on FOX, 5.9 million, Mon., March 23, 1998). Viewership increased every half hour through the telecast and peaked at 4.2 million from 10:30-11 p.m. ET during the final six rounds of the Keith Thurman-Robert Guerrero fight. The PBC on NBC also led NBC to a Saturday primetime victory among adults 18-49, with a 1.08 rating in that demographic. Also, according to NBC Sports, more than 575,000 minutes (576,435) of PBC on NBC coverage was live streamed via NBC Sports Live Extra to desktops, tablets and mobile devices. The show thus has to be considered a ratings success.

We spoke with Charles Farrell by phone Sunday.

"I do think the idea of making competitive fights is a very good idea. I think star-building is a very good idea," he said.

"There's probably interest in trying to resurrect Adrien Broner. I dont think that that happened, and I think maybe they have to think about what to do with Adrien Broner at this point."

He continued, "But they probably did pretty well by Keith Thurman. And my guess is that people who were watching who were casual fans will be inclined to watch the next one. So you give it a passing grade, and I would say at this point we sort of have to wait and see."

As for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, where Mayweather puts his 47-0 record on the line, we discussed potential outcomes, including one possibility that the fight will end in a highly controversial and disputed decision, thus leading to much antipathy for boxing but also a highly lucrative rematch.

We also discussed the announcing and overall production of the debut PBC on NBC show, the need to present boxing "as boxing" on TV, the decision loss by Chinese fighter Zou Shiming to IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand in Macao in China, why boxing seems to rebound after each period of decline, and much, 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:

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.

Takedown Wrestling Media, America's wrestling TV and radio shows, which are hosted by founder Scott Casber, and have been airing on radio and Internet for over 17 years. Takedown Media produces a weekly TV program seen in 54 million homes in the U.S. on DirecTV, Dish Network, and cable affiliates around the country, called Takedown TV. Takedown Media also produces the weekly USA Wrestling TV show for the governing body of the sport, USA Wrestling. For more information, go to TakedownRadio.com.

No Holds Barred: Olympic Boxing Corruption, Teddy Riner Superstar, Combat Sports at London 2012 Olympics So Far

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman comments on some of the developments at the 2012 London Olympic regarding the combat sports after the first full week of competition.

Among the topics discussed are the latest Olympic boxing scandal involving the Satoshi Shimizu-Magomed Abdulhamidov fight whose verdict was overturned, the need for a World Anti-Corruption Agency for sport, Olympic heavyweight gold medalist judoka Teddy Riner of France as an international superstar, doping at the Olympics, the disgraceful Olympics coverage by NBC, the xenophobia and narrowness in American sport, amateur MMA and the Olympics, the role of social media, and much more.

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:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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Professional Crooks in Amateur Boxing

On the eve of the gold medal finals coming up this weekend at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, it all started to fall apart in public for the justifiably beleaguered International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and their absurd and universally condemned scoring system.

Inside the ring, NBC’s Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas called the scoring during Friday’s semifinals “the worst” so far in this tournament, which began Saturday, August 9, ran though Wednesday, August 20, and resumed Friday, August 22. On Friday afternoon’s CNBC telecast, the last of these daily doses of Olympic boxing on this cable network, video replays of numerous instances of awful scoring were shown.

In a light welterweight semifinal, Manus Boonjumnong of Thailand was shown repeatedly holding Roniel Iglesias of Cuba without being penalized. Boonjumnong won, 10-5. But in the other light welterweight semifinal, Alexis Vastine of France was penalized twice, for a total of four points, for holding against Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic, who was doing much holding himself. Those four points made the difference of who advanced to the finals and who went home, as Diaz was awarded the victory, 12-10.

The scoring was even erratic and irrational when the fighters of the host country China were involved. In a light flyweight semifinal, the popular returning world champion Zou Shiming was awarded a shutout victory by a score of 15-0 over Ireland’s Paddy Barnes. The NBC video replay, however, clearly showed Barnes landing a clean punch without it being counted, while Zou was the one awarded a point. Barnes did admit that he had legitimately lost the fight, as, like so many boxers at this year’s Olympics, he could not establish a jab and outbox Zou, but the shutout score was preposterous.

In a welterweight semifinal, China’s Silamu Hanati landed numerous solid, effective, and legal body shots against Cuba’s Carlos Banteaux without getting credit for them. Banteaux was awarded the win by an insane 17-4 margin.

Outside the ring, AIBA itself began to become unhinged. A news conference was held by Rudi Obreja of Romania, an AIBA technical delegate to the Olympic Games, charging “AIBA officials improperly manipulated the random assignment of referees and judges to suit particular boxers,” and more.

Obreja singled out AIBA secretary-general Ho Kim, alleging, “Under AIBA rules the names of referees and judges come out of a computer but here in Beijing that rule was broken. Ho Kim, who calls himself secretary-general of this tournament, has changed 60-70% of those names.” He added, “I expect to be expelled from AIBA for what I'm telling you,” which was about the only predictable outcome today.

AIBA responded with a statement alleging that they had uncovered their own conspiracy, saying they had heard two months ago of an attempt to manipulate the officiating, and that they had “also notified the IOC sports department of the issue and the IOC provided an independent observer to overview the competition.” AIBA provided no names, so it was not even clear if they were alleging that Obreja was involved in any wrongdoing.

So apparently both sides agree that there was manipulation, although it is now unclear just who are the real crooks, or what their motives may be.

If all this chaos and corruption sounds familiar to those who follow professional boxing, get ready for the lords of amateur boxing to try their hands at becoming pro boxing promoters. AIBA has just announced they will be forming an organization called the World League of Boxing. According to AIBA president Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu, “The World League of Boxing will revolutionise the sport of boxing like never before providing a universal form of entertainment which will capture the imagination of boxing fans around the world.” So he already has the hype part down.

Besides partnering with the marketing company IMG, and promising to set up an actual world league, AIBA’s hook seems to be that they will work with the national amateur boxing federations with the “intention that boxers that compete in the WLB will be allowed to compete also in future Olympic Games.” Rival promoters, of course, need not apply.

According to the boxing page on NBCOlympics.com, the gold medal finals in boxing will be broadcast in the U.S. on NBC and Telemundo (in Spanish) both Saturday and Sunday.

The boxing will be interspersed with other sports both days. Here is the schedule so far, with all times EDT:

Saturday, August 23

NBC -- 10:00a - 4:00p
Women's basketball gold-medal game: USA vs. Australia (LIVE ET/CT). Also, gold-medal finals in individual rhythmic gymnastics, team synchronized swimming, boxing and flatwater canoe/kayak.

Telemundo -- 6:00a - 2:00p
Baseball gold-medal game: South Korea vs. Cuba (LIVE ET/CT). Also, finals in boxing and track and field, and the men's 10m platform diving semifinal.

Sunday, August 24

NBC -- 12:00p - 4:00p
The men's water polo gold-medal game: USA vs. Hungary. Also, rhythmic gymnastics and boxing finals. Medal Event

Telemundo -- 6:00p - 7:00p
Boxing Coverage to be determined.

We know you will be watching, even if the judges aren’t.

NBC Muffs First Day of Olympics Boxing Coverage

What an embarrassingly poor presentation of this year’s Olympic boxing by NBC so far!

The first afternoon telecast on CNBC, which was taped earlier Saturday, August 9, began by showing the same fight, between middleweights Emilio Correa of Cuba and Jarrod Fletcher of Australia, twice, from start to finish.

Although Correa deservedly won easily, he had an eight-count called against him in the fourth and final round when he kneeled to the canvas after a combination to the head by Fletcher, although those punches did not seem to do much damage. Even though they showed this fight twice, and it was pretaped, they never showed a replay of this knockdown.

Announcers Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas did correctly point out that the punches Fletcher landed which caused Correa to kneel down did not even result in one point being tallied by these judges. Generally they did a good job savaging these supposedly reformed Olympic boxing rules. They even had a nice replay of a Chinese boxer getting smashed directly in the face, without a point being scored for his opponent. And they now even have open scoring in Olympic boxing.

The fight they likely skipped involved Russian middleweight Matvey Korobov, a 2005 and 2007 amateur world champion, who outpointed Naim Terbunja of Sweden, 18-6. Korobov is a favorite to win a gold medal this year. Plus, for the American-centric NBC, his parents and older brother reportedly live in Florida, and he plans to turn pro after the Olympics.

The NBCOlympics.com boxing page, with schedules, results, etc., is at http://www.nbcolympics.com/boxing/index.html.

The boxing page on the official Beijing 2008 Olympic Games page is at http://en.beijing2008.cn/sports/boxing/index.shtml.

Most of the boxing in the U.S. will be on CNBC, live at about midnight EDT (more likely with the boxing part of those shows beginning around 1:30 AM EDT) and taped starting at 5 PM EDT most days. The boxing competition runs from August 9-20 and August 22-24, with the finals on August 23 and 24.

Interestingly, although NBCOlympics.com will stream a lot of the action (supposedly only available in the U.S.), there are no plans to stream any boxing – perhaps because they know that so many people in boxing love to brag that they are too lazy or stupid to use the Internet. Of course, this will only encourage more people to seek out these videos online, whether or not the sites offering them are provided by rights holders or by people who just decide to stream them for free.

Here are some links to articles which will help you do that, assuming, of course, that you are not one of boxing’s proud technophobic idiots:

Watch the Olympics Online

How To Watch The Beijing Olympics LIVE On The Web -- Even If NBC Doesn't Want You To

Ready to watch the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

Watch Beijing 2008 live