Affliction and Golden Boy join forces
from mmaweekly.com:
The worlds of mixed martial arts and boxing are about to collide.
Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio on Saturday confirmed that his company has entered into an agreement with Golden Boy Promotions, the boxing promotion led by Oscar De La Hoya. The two will co-promote a hybrid evening of boxing and mixed martial arts to be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. on Jan. 17.
"It's very good news," Atencio told MMAWeekly.com. "It's good for the company, and it's good for the sport."
Ted's Take: I've got mixed feelings about this one. I can appreciate boxing; I can remember years back ordering the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis fight. I loved watching Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti on HBO. But I prefer MMA. When it comes down to it, I would rather see a card full of MMA fights than half-MMA, half-boxing. I'm not sure I'm going to buy the PPV at this point. Not to sound like a frickin' baby or anything ...
The bigger deal here if is I don't think Afflcition would be doing this if they didn't have to. Boxing's popularity, from all that I've read, is down. Why attach yourself to a sinking ship? But I guess Oscar de la Hoya's company, however, has scratch to spare. So it works out for de la Hoya, because he's attached himself to something on the rise.
Already confirmed for the fight card is Fedor Emelianenko, who was forced off Affliction's second card originally scheduled for Oct. 11 due to a chip fracture in his right hand. An opponent for the Russian has not yet been named.
The main event fighters from the now-postponed "Day of Reckoning," Josh Barnett and Andre Arlovski, told MMAWeekly.com that they have not been informed whether they will be on the Jan. 17 card.
In June, Banner Promotions held a free boxing and MMA event at the Thomas and Mack Center. The event's main event and co-featured bouts were televised on ESPN's "Friday Night Fights," and drew around 9,000 fans at its peak.
Atencio said the companies were in talks with premium channel HBO to air the Jan. 17 show, but were not close to a deal yet.
A press release with further details of the partnership is forthcoming.
