No Holds Barred: James DeGale, Badou Jack, Lucian Bute, Chocolatito, McWilliams Arroyo

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the April 30 fights between James DeGale and Rogelio Medina, and Badou Jack and Lucian Bute, as well as the April 23 fight between Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez and McWilliams Arroyo. On Saturday, April 30, there will be a super middleweight doubleheader involving separate fights by two titleholders, all in preparation for a showdown and title unification between the victors. WBC champion Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12 KOs) will face former IBF champion Lucian Bute (32-3, 25 KOs), while current IBF champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist James DeGale (22-1, 14 KOs) will fight mandatory challenger Rogelio Medina (36-6, 30 KOs). This will take place at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C. and be shown live in the U.S. on Showtime and in the U.K. on Sky Sports. This coming week, on Saturday. April 23, boxing consensus pound-for-pound best, the WBC flyweight champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KOs), will face 2008 Olympian McWilliams Arroyo (16-2, 14 KOs). This fight is the co-feature to the Gennady Golovkin-Dominic Wade middleweight title main event, but is actually more anticipated than that fight by many who know boxing. These fights take place at the Forum in Inglewood, California, and will be televised live in the U.S. on HBO and in the U.K. on BoxNation. We spoke this week with James DeGale, Badou Jack, Lucian Bute, Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, and McWilliams Arroyo on media conference calls about these fights and their plans. (Photo of Badou Jack and Lucian Bute from Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions. Photo of James Degale from Lawrence Lustig/Matchroom Boxing. Photo of Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez from Ed Mulholland/K2 Promotions. Photo of McWilliams Arroyo from PR Best Boxing Promotions.) 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 free to listen to and is sponsored by: The Frank Gotch World Catch Wrestling Tournament. On Sunday, July 3, 2016, catch wrestlers from all around the world will compete in Humboldt, Iowa, the hometown of the legendary world champion wrestler Frank Gotch. Organized by the Catch Wrestling Alliance and co-sponsored by IAWrestle, the Frank Gotch Statue Committee, and the Frank Gotch Kids Wrestling Club, the event will take place at Humboldt High School. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com. The North American Catch Wrestling Association, a grassroots organization designed to help rebuild the sport of catch-as-catch-can-wrestling. For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/NorthAmericanCatchWrestlingAssociation. BJJ Eastern Europe, for the latest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu news, articles, interviews, competition calendar, European belt rankings, academy directory, and more. For more information, go to BJJEE.com. The National Registry for Wrestling, whose mission is to increase wrestling's fanbase, to build a registry of all wrestling fans, to serve as a connecting point for all wrestling fans, and to provide TV and Internet listings for wrestling. For more information, go to NR4W.com. Thanks, Eddie Goldman EddieGoldman.com