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MMA Weekly: Golden Boy working with Affliction
By Zach Arnold | September 13, 2008
Though no word has been forthcoming from either promoter, it is expected that the partnership would include events that commingle boxing and MMA bouts on the same fight card. The move of Affliction’s event gives the two time to work out details and strategies to make such a hybrid fight card possible for the January event.
This is a lousy concept and a cheap gimmick. Just because a promoter was able to make it work on a lower level at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas through sponsorship doesn’t mean that the concept will work on a bigger scale with fighters commanding higher salaries. If I’m watching an MMA show, I want to watch a full card of MMA. I don’t want to watch boxing and MMA together. If I want to watch boxing, I’ll watch a boxing show with hopefully more than one good bout on paper. There’s a difference between getting a cheap or free ticket to a live show with a mixture of boxing & MMA bouts as opposed to me shelling out $40-50 USD for what is supposed to be an MMA PPV.
On paper, Affliction announcing a partnership with Golden Boy has decent “shock value” in terms of PR. In reality, I’m not sure just how much Golden Boy is willing to put into the business relationship. For example, Golden Boy is reportedly not airing the Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez PPV fight tonight in HD. The reason? A cost-cutting measure.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 60 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Apologies in advance for the double post:
It reminds me of people acting like the Trump connection would bring them NBC. You know, he did have the apprentice! This is not a game changer.
Yeah, Oscar is only a fight promoter who’s effectively conquered his sport and been involved in some of the biggest drawing PPVs in history. He’s very similar to Trump in terms of his comparative business sense for this.
Sorry everybody, but D. Capitated is winning this argument about boxing. Almost everything he is saying is correct. Almost. There is ONE thing I must take him to task for:
“Also, a final item: Has no one noticed that De La Hoya owns The Ring magazine? I half expect Fedor to toss his WAMMA title for a sanction fee-less Ring Heavyweight MMA title in January. Do that while Oscar goes on the PR attack trying to hand titles to Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre and the media will have a field day.”
As long as Nigel Collins, Bill Detloff, Jeff Ryan, Ivan Goldman, etc. are still at Ring Magazine, there will NEVER be Ring magazine MMA titles. Never ever! All of those writers would probably walk out and form their own boxing magazine. Those guys HATE MMA and have written many non-MMA articles. But also about DLH owning Ring; NOTHING has changed with Ring Magazine since the buyout (BTW DLH also bought out Pro Wrestling Illustrated). It’s still the same old excellent magazine. DLH still gets criticized whenever the chance arises. I will bet Goldman and Ryan at the very least will bash the Golden Boy and Affliction partnership. I guarantee that.
Oh, and GB Promotions is a big thing for HBO. I rmemeber a few years ago on HBO Latino they had their own boxing show independent of regular HBO that was always Golden Boy Promoted events. it was their show. They stopped it for whatever reasons. Hey, it was better than KO Nation…
“IceMuncher how many matches do you get on a UFC card? 5 – generally 6 right?”
6 are guaranteed, on average it’s worked out to 7 fights per show this year, the high being 9 fights in one night.
“Affliction can put 6 MMA fights and 2 headliners on a card and 3 boxing matches with 1 headliner and you’ll actually SEE all the fights. So you’ll still be able to watch 6 fights. Just like your beloved UFC.”
No. In order to watch all those fights, you’d need a 5-6 hour PPV. The 6 MMA fights will take between 2-3 hours, and each boxing fight will take the better part of an hour. A more realistic expectation is 3 MMA fights a PPV, maybe 4 if things go swiftly.
“Explain to me the concept of how a split boxing/MMA card is going to produce more high-level MMA.”
Is the UFC going to book Barnett anytime soon? Barnett vs AA is an awesome matchup. If this is the only way for Affliction to survive, its better than nothing.
As long as Nigel Collins, Bill Detloff, Jeff Ryan, Ivan Goldman, etc. are still at Ring Magazine, there will NEVER be Ring magazine MMA titles.
The big problems for them leaving would be that they’re basically nothings to the boxing public whereas what they say matters solely because of the magazine. OTOH, Oscar owns a publishing company that produces numerous magazines, and he may very well have an MMA one put out with its own belts. Again, Oscar can put himself out there with them and the media will adore him. Mass media outlets get along with Oscar De La Hoya. They don’t get along with Dana.
re: HBO Latino – Cost versus return. HBO was paying for live boxing cards on a network many didn’t have access for. In the end, they found that running taped bouts from the unseen portions of PPV undercards was economically better.
Is the UFC going to book Barnett anytime soon? Barnett vs AA is an awesome matchup. If this is the only way for Affliction to survive, its better than nothing.
Or how about Fedor fighting on the card, potentially instead against one of those two? Those fights aren’t happening in the UFC, so if it means we all have to sit through something like Katsidis/Santa Cruz (oh and what a crime that would be, given that they’d tear each other’s heads off) to see it, I’ll take it.
I didn’t say “no one knows who they are.” I said I’ve never heard of them.
Manny Pacquiao – no
Oscar De La Hoya – yes, though I don’t know why he’s famous aside from being a boxer
Ricky Hatton – bigger than Jesus in the UK still equals, I don’t know who he is
David Haye – no idea. If he’s talking about fighting in MMA, then he’s probably not much of a boxer
Bernard Hopkins – I have heard of this guy (there was heavy advertising for one of his fights recently), but I’ve never seen him fight nor do I care to.
“No. In order to watch all those fights, you’d need a 5-6 hour PPV. The 6 MMA fights will take between 2-3 hours, and each boxing fight will take the better part of an hour. A more realistic expectation is 3 MMA fights a PPV, maybe 4 if things go swiftly.
You’re buying Huddles arguement that a boxing match has to be an hour. Thats so laughable its ridiculous. 11 minutes between rounds IF a fight goes 12 rounds, which necessitates a fight to BE twelve rounds in the first place. Many high level non-championship fights are 10 rounders, the first undercard fight would likely be anywhere from a 6-8 rounds. This is also completely discounting any possibility of any of the fights being ended by KO or any form of TKO, be it doctor stoppage or referee stoppage.
The headlining bout if it went to a decision would probably be more like
7-10 minutes for fighter entrances/introductions/national anthems.
12 minutes between rounds + the minute before the decision (he left that out too)
36 minutes of boxing
5 minutes of post fight assuming its NOT my boy Larry Merchant dragging it out.
A little over an hour for the headlining fight IF it went to decision – which if GBP does their job right and makes action fights there is a 75% chance it ends in half that time.
An MMA championship fight
5-10 minutes for entrances and bullshit talk of sponsers and Bruce Buffer wishing he was his brother
5 minutes between fights + post fight.
3 minutes stopped time to have a cut checked by the doctor (this generally happens in between rounds in boxing unless the cut is gonna stop the fight anyways but routinely happens in MMA)
25 minutes of fighting
5-10 minutes of post fight interviews and shoutouts and complaining about the decision.
MMA fights that get past the 3rd round have a staggering rate of going to decision as guys gas out. I wish I could give you an exact number but I honestly can’t think of a fight ending in the 5th round and really can’t think of a 4th round ending off the top of my head.
45 – 50 minutes for the fight. If it goes beyond 3 you’re almost guaranteed a decision. At least with boxing matches when they go into the later rounds there is a decent chance of a decisive finish to avoid the decision.
With the right matchmaking it would actually be
an action 6 round fight on the undercard with a likely early KO and would be set up to fill up no more than 15 minutes of broadcast time from fighter entrances to post fight.
a matchup between a puncher and a technical fighter in an 8 round fight that would serve as an intermission for MMA fans to piss get a beer whatever. Fill up no more than 35 minutes of time
An all action title affair between two stars that could end at any moment or could go the distance (cough Vazquez Marquez 4 cough) Worst case decision scenario 1 hour. Thats an hour and 50 minutes with a KO in the short fight and decisions in the 2 others. 5 hour telecast then allows for 6 MMA fights with 1 title fight assuming at least 1 ends without going to decision.
5 undercard fights – 3 rounds at 15 minutes + 3 mins between rounds and shortened entrances exits 25 mins tops per
25 X 5 = 2 hours 5 minutes + one 50 minute title fight = 2 hours 55 minutes
Do the math just under 2 hours of boxing + just under 3 hours of MMA = easily broadcast on a 5 hour card with each fight going to decision. It fits perfectly
“I didn’t say “no one knows who they are.” I said I’ve never heard of them.
Manny Pacquiao – no
Oscar De La Hoya – yes, though I don’t know why he’s famous aside from being a boxer
Ricky Hatton – bigger than Jesus in the UK still equals, I don’t know who he is
David Haye – no idea. If he’s talking about fighting in MMA, then he’s probably not much of a boxer
Bernard Hopkins – I have heard of this guy (there was heavy advertising for one of his fights recently), but I’ve never seen him fight nor do I care to.”
You haven’t heard of Pacman = you live in a cave in Afghanistan
You have only heard of DLH in passing = Your cave doesn’t receive even regular news from your body guards.
Ricky Hatton – it doesn’t matter if you know who he is – the thousands of Brits that actually travel to Vegas for his fights do. There were around 20,000 that traveled to Vegas for his fight with Floyd Mayweather.
David Haye – Undisputed 200 lbs champion moving up to heavyweight – the smallest name of the group and I really don’t like the guy but he’s talented with heavy hands. Much too small IMO to beat Wlad Klitschko who’s a ripped 250 and awesome technical boxer. Haye has spoken about MMA because he is actually interested in it. Your comment actually is an implyed bash against MMA you realize that right? He must not be a good boxer if hes settling for a second rate sport like MMA.
Bernard Hopkins may be the greatest fighter of any of the above but he’s certainly the least entertaining for the casual fan. He would not be one of the people to put these cards – Unless they threw the Pavlik vs Hopkins fight as the headliner on one. Of course most MMA fans don’t like Machida either because they are uneducated fools, so theres no accounting for taste. I like Hopkins cause he’s a master of his craft.
In all honestly, saying that you’re aware of Oscar’s fame and that he’s a boxer but apparently can’t translate how the two fit together is probably the funniest admission I’ve heard in awhile. Perhaps, dear Jeremy, he is so famous because he’s a boxer. Is your mind blown?