No Holds Barred: Chavez Jr.-Martinez and Canelo-Lopez Previews with John Perretti

No Holds Barred: Chavez Jr.-Martinez and Canelo-Lopez Previews with John Perretti

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again speaks with lifelong martial artist, former UFC and Battlecade Extreme Fighting matchmaker, TV commentator, and our senior correspondent, John Perretti.

On Saturday, September 15, during the weekend of Mexican Independence Day, the sport of boxing, if you can call it that, will have two major, televised, competing cards taking place in the same city, Las Vegas, at the same time.

The show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be headlined by the unbeaten WBC super welterweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez defending his belt against rising star Josesito Lopez, who earned the title shot with an upset TKO win over Victor Ortiz in June. Also on that card, WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez fights Daniel Ponce De Leon, Marcos Maidana faces Jesus Soto Karass in a 12-round welterweight fight, and IBF bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz fights Eric Morel. This card will be televised live on Showtime in the U.S., BoxNation in the U.K., and Televisa in Mexico.

Not far away, at the Thomas & Mack Center, recognized linear middleweight world champion Sergio Martinez will fight WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Also on that card, Roman Martinez will fight Miguel Beltran Jr. for the vacant WBO super featherweight title, WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux will defend his belt against Robert Marroquin, and Matthew Macklin will fight Joachim Alcine in a ten-round middleweight fight. This card will be televised live on HBO pay-per-view in the U.S., Primetime pay-per-view in the U.K., and Azteca in Mexico.

We spoke with John Perretti by phone Thursday about these fights.

Asked if he had to choose just one of these cards to watch live, perhaps surprisingly he replied that it was "a no-brainer" that he would choose the one headlined by Chavez Jr. and Martinez.

As for a prediction, he said in this interview, "If, indeed, this Martinez-Chavez fight is real and not a debacle, and not another uproar, a burning at the stake of Pacquiao, if it is real, I will tell you that Martinez will go down from a body shot and it will be a TKO for Chavez."

We also discussed the practice of Top Rank, Chavez Jr.'s promoter, of only booking fights when they are virtually certain that their fighter will win, which is why Chavez Jr. has not fought the 37-year-old Martinez until now. Top Rank boss Arum wants to build Chavez Jr. into a superstar on the level of Mayweather and Pacquiao. We discussed how these plans may or may not factor into what happens in this fight and the possibility of - gasp - another major controversy in boxing.

We also discussed the Canelo-Lopez fight, which John Perretti believes is harder to predict. We talked about how that entire televised card actually is stronger than the one headlined by Chavez Jr. and Martinez, the $100,000 bonus on that card for the best knockout, how he was the one who initiated bonuses when he was a matchmaker in MMA, and much more.

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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.

MMA World Expo. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City December 1 and 2 for the fourth annual MMA World Expo, featuring an amateur MMA tournament, the Renzo Gracie BJJ Open 2012 tournament, the Big Apple No-Gi tournament, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, and much more. The 2012 MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, December 1, and Sunday, December 2, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

♔EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess♔, See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time.EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess" Keisha Morrisey, for ♔Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios♔, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and ★Starlite★ Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved.

Stacked “CageSport XXI” Fight Card Announced!‏

Fight fans will receive a special treat when Halquist Productions’ “CageSport XXI” takes over the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA with an unprecedented three feature bouts Saturday, September 29.

For the first time ever, CageSport airs on ROOT SPORTS. Additionally, the broadcast crew is comprised of world famous personality Danny Bonaduce, former UFC announcer Jeff Osborne and two-time fighter of the year Miesha “Cupcake” Tate.

Lightweight Brandon Dudley of North Bend, WA risks his perfect 4-0 record against Springfield, OR resident Emmanuel Sanchez in a three round contest.

Unbeaten in both the pros and as an amateur, Dudley’s forced most of his foes to tap out in the opening round. He’s yet to find himself in any serious danger since entering the octagon and is creating a major buzz amongst MMA fans, who’ve expressed their eagerness to see him fight again.

A winner in his last two bouts, most recently scoring a second round submission over Travis Jackson, Sanchez believes that he’ll be the one to end the hype behind his highly-touted opponent.

Four-time amateur champion Brent “Mankill” Knopp is scheduled to face Brandon Pitts over three rounds in the middleweight division.

The fighting pride of Burien, WA, Knopp’s built a reputation as one of the most explosive strikers in the sport. On July 14, Knopp stopped Darrio Mobley on the “CageSport XX” card.

A natural light heavyweight, Pitts is moving down a division for the biggest challenge of his career. Fresh off a first round TKO on August 4, Pitts plans to use his size and momentum to bring home a victory to Portland, OR. Pitt is trained by 2000 Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Silver Medalist Matt Linland out of the world famous Team Quest Gym. The gym was started by Linland along with UFC legends Randy Couture and Dan Henderson.

In featured undercard bouts, rising star and Yakima, WA native Julian Erosa risks his unbeaten record against Bend, OR based chokehold master Jason Gybles. Erosa, who forced most of his opponents to tapout, faces the fellow submission artist in a three round lightweight contest.

Featherweight standouts Jacob Boysen and Ryan Mulvihill will meet in a three rounder for Northwest region supremacy.

At 3-0, Boysen most recently stopped Rob Dyer in the opening round. The Seattle, WA sensation has looked fantastic thus far but is taking a major step up in competition.

Mulvihill, of Spokane, WA fought on six “CageSport” cards, providing the fans with quality bouts each time out. Earlier this year, he took the aforementioned Erosa four rounds before losing by submission. A winner in four of his last six, Mulvihill is faced with yet another tough opponent on the 29^th.

“This is going to be a night everybody involved will remember,” said promoter Brian Halquist. “The CageSport brand has grown so much over the years and with the ROOT SPORTS broadcast, things will go to a whole new level. I’m beyond excited for everything that will unfold come September 29!”

Six additional three round undercard matches will take place featuring local standouts Dave Courchaine, Matt Kovacks, Chris Wheaton, Jose Rico, Andy Paves and Damen Wood.

The CageSport series’ highly-anticipated debut on Root TV will feature an outstanding broadcast team of Miesha “Cupcake” Tate, Danny Bonaduce and Jeff Osborne.

The card takes place Saturday, September 29 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.

Root Sports is owned and operated by DIRECTV Sports Networks. Root Sports owns regional telecast rights for many professional and collegiate teams including the Seattle Marines, Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Utah Jazz, Big Sky Conference and Gonzaga University. They also broadcast Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA games for both basketball and football.

A lifelong entertainer with an array of talents, Bonaduce’s a familiar face to people from all walks of life. In 1970, Bonaduce burst onto the scene by starring on the hit show “The Partridge Family”. Danny continued to appear on various shows, most recently making a splash on the critically acclaimed TV series World’s Dumbest. In 2000 Bonaduce landed on the highly rated radio program, The Jamie and Danny Show. Currently, he has a show in Seattle called The Danny Bonaduce Show.

A passionate member of the fight community, Bonaduce is undefeated in the celebrity boxing and wrestling circuit, facing fellow celebrities such as Donny Osmond, Barry Williams, attorney Robert Shapiro, and 6’4 240 lb former baseball MVP Jose Canseco.

♔EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess♔, See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time.EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess" Keisha Morrisey, for ♔Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios♔, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and ★Starlite★ Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved.