Miscellaneous
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with our colleague Chris Baldwin on the WAAR Room. We spoke with her by phone Sunday, April 11. It was just confirmed a few days ago by both fighters' camps that Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have been made several concrete offers for where and when their heavyweight title unification fight might be staged this summer. The reported favorite location is Saudi Arabia. One reason for this is the difficulty of holding this fight in a large venue in the U.K. or U.S., which usually holds such events, because of pandemic restrictions. Another is that the monarchs in Saudi Arabia are willing to overpay to host this fight in order to claim to the world that they are building a modern, tolerant country, despite their horrific record on human rights. When Joshua first fought in Saudi Arabia in December 2019, and Fury performed on a WWE show there in October of that year, there was limited and muted criticism of them for bringing their business to this despotic monarchy. But much has changed in the world since then. In February of this year, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, now under the Biden-Harris Administration, released a report on the 2018 assassination of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report concluded: "We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," who was a long-term resident of the U.S. and wrote for the Washington Post. Muhammad bin Salman is the de facto ruler of this monarchy. In 2020, a documentary on the assassination of Khashoggi entitled "The Dissident" was released. It was directed and produced by Bryan Fogel, who also directed the award-winning documentary "Icarus" on the Russian state-sponsored doping scandal. "The Dissident" has already won several film awards and been nominated for others, but is now only available on video-on-demand because of the refusal of many large streaming sites to buy it so as not to upset their business dealings with the Saudi monarchy. Besides focusing on the story of the Saudi activist and video blogger Omar Abdulaziz, the film includes an interview with Hatice Cengiz, who was Khashoggi's fiancee. She is an academic, researcher, and writer. With the news that Saudi Arabia is the frontrunner to host the Fury-Joshua fight, which will be boxing's biggest fight in years and a major world sporting event, Hatice Cengiz has issued a statement to The Telegraph of the U.K. urging both fighters and their camps not to have this fight in Saudi Arabia: "Sports should not be used for politics, nor to whitewash atrocities. Jamal was brutally murdered and it would be shameful if the man who stands accused of ordering it were allowed to benefit from this famous and profitable boxing match. I urge the organisers not to give him this reward for his crimes. We should instead stand together for justice and humanity." Note also that The Telegraph regularly covers boxing. At the same time, there is a "Justice For Jamal" global campaign being organized that calls for a boycott of events hosted or supported by the Saudi dictatorship: "Until there is #JusticeForJamal, no government or company in the world should do business with Saudi Arabia's criminal regime." All of this, plus the silence of the boxing media on these issues, is the focus of this edition of No Holds Barred. (Photo of Tyson Fury from Mikey Williams/Top Rank. Photo of Anthony Joshua from Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing.) Please also subscribe to the No Holds Barred page on Patreon for much more No Holds Barred content. The Podomatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS 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 sponsored by: LenneHardt.com, the home of Lenne Hardt, the legendary MMA and sports announcer, voice actor, singer, actress, and comedienne. Lenne is also known for her jazz vocals with her Lenne Hardt Jazz Cabaret Band. For more information, to book her, or to order a custom message from her, go to LenneHardt.com. Skullz Fight Shop, home of the Skullz Double-End Bag, the perfect punching bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve speed, distance, and timing skills. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. Skullz Fight Shop - Advancing combat sports equipment for the next generation of fighters. For more information, go to https://skullzfightshop.com. Adolphina Studios. Original art prints and handcrafted fine jewelry. For more information, go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdolphinaStudios. Thanks, Eddie Goldman EddieGoldman.com