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Quote of the Day – Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer
By Zach Arnold | September 14, 2008
In an interview with Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated:
“We believe Affliction and the relationships they have with that demographic, the identification they have within that demographic group I think will help bring boxing to these people,” said the Golden Boy CEO. “We think as well, many of the mixed martial arts fans are fans of combat sports, and what they’ve seen of boxing is a very exciting sport as well that maybe they will discover their love for the sport of boxing.”
Some boxing fans are not happy with Golden Boy on this new development.
Topics: Affliction, Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Of course no one would want to see football and baseball in the same night at the same venue, but are people being to harsh on this without at least checking out a show?
If you’ve seen boxing matches and MMA matches, there’s nothing left for you to check out. You know exactly what to expect.
You can simulate it yourself if you want. DVR the UFN Wednesday and wait until you find some boxing matches on ESPN. Watch one boxing match, pause it, then watch two of the recorded MMA fights. Repeat until you reach the time limit of an Affliction PPV.
There have been nights that HBO and the UFC have had Boxing/MMA on the same night. I will typically watch the UFC live, and the boxing on my DVR. It’s extremely hard for me to switch over. Sometimes I wait until the next day to watch the boxing.
Is this about saving Affliction, promoting MMA, or about saving boxing by cross-promoting it with an MMA event and exposing MMA fans to boxing?
You know, all 50 to 100k that bought the Affliction PPV. However many it finally turned out to be.
Doesn’t sound like Golden Boy is very committed to the MMA end of things, does it?
If they were devoted, they would have signed the fighters themselves.
“Is this about saving Affliction, promoting MMA, or about saving boxing by cross-promoting it with an MMA event and exposing MMA fans to boxing?”
Most likely none of the above. Most likely it is a way for Affliction to get Affliction Shirts (sponsors) on more of their fighters and probably a bigger piece of the profits of the shirts sold at their events.
It wouldn’t shock me if the MMA portion is just to please Affliction and sweeten the deal.
Thanks for reporting this Zach… makes me sick to think of Golden Boy getting anywhere near Affliction and Dana White is probably laughing and so elated.
I’m sorry to see that so many boxing fans & MMA fans are so closed minded & even heated over this venture.
As I stated in an ealier post, I’m a die hard fan of both sports & I believe that mixed cards have a lot of potential if the matchmaking is done right.
Perhaps it’s my own background in combatives that makes me more able to appreciate the idea than some.What with having begun my own training in the martial arts at 12. Then I began to watch & enjoy boxing on television at 14
eventually leading me to begin training as a fighter on my 17th birthday in 1978.
Something that I emersed myself in for the next decade in compiling a 22-5 record. Which also led me back full circle into crosstraining in kickboxing & then a reality based form of Kempo in which I became a black belt in.
But, IMO it wouldn’t have taken all that to have become a rabid MMA fan. Which I became immediately upon ordering & enjoying the hell out of UFC 2 back in ’94 ( I’d skipped the first one only because I had questions about the legitimacy of the event, fearing a hyperbolic event full of badly worked bouts ).
To me a good fight is a good fight no matter what the discipline.
We aren’t closed minded. We just don’t like the sport of boxing. It is as simple as that.
“We aren’t closed minded. We just don’t like the sport of boxing. It is as simple as that.”
Then why do you tape it and watch it? Or were you lying about that?
I have every cable channel. I don’t watch ShoBox or the majority of Showtime cards. I typically don’t watch BAD. I will DVR the occassional top level big fight to watch. I typically end up fast forwarding to see who wins. Really, there are only a handleful of boxers I care to see, and even then, I am typically disappointed with how boring it is.
Not to mention that I haven’t purchased a boxing PPV since Hopkins/Trinidad. So I refuse to spend money to watch a boxing fight.