Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

Earlier this week, ESPN.com reported that boxing stars Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley would square off in a welterweight title match in late January.

How, you might wonder, does this relate to mixed martial arts?

There is a very simple yet confusing reason. The fight, co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, has been scheduled for Las Vegas on Jan. 24, and will be aired on HBO. On the same night, just over 250 miles away in Anaheim, Calif., Affliction will be staging its second pay-per-view, an event co-promoted by -- you guessed it -- Golden Boy Promotions.

So essentially, Golden Boy is competing against itself in the combat sports arena, but with significantly more invested in the boxing world, which event do you think will get the short end of the stick?

This is only the latest in a series of missteps that have taken place for Affliction, and brings about questions as to the strength of their partnership with Golden Boy. During the original joint announcement, the parties announced that they would offer hybrid events that featured both MMA and boxing on the same card. However, just a few weeks later, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said the companies had reversed course on the idea due to criticism.

That came on the heels of Affliction postponing their scheduled October event amid reports of poor ticket sales.

At the time of the announcement, Affliction trumpeted Golden Boy's promotional muscle as one of the major benefits of the deal. With the event less than two months away and the holidays taking up a large percentage of people's attention, it won't be easy to gain marketing traction in that time. The real push likely won't start until early January, and Golden Boy will have its attention in two places.

Adding to the trouble is that the world leader in MMA – the UFC – has two major events in January, UFC 93 and 94. The former features a main event of Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson; the latter boasts a superfight between lightweight champ B.J. Penn and welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. Those events are on Jan. 17 and Jan. 31, respectively, and both are on pay-per-view, effectively meaning that MMA fans will be faced with the decision of plunking down close to $50 three weeks in a row. Zuffa, well aware of what's at stake, is certain to put on the full-court press and try to bury Affliction.

Long story short, Affliction needs all the help they can get, and Golden Boy can not offer all their resources because they will be allocated to their No. 1 business. Wouldn't it be logical that if Golden Boy was fully invested in MMA, they would focus on it completely for one night?

Adding to Affliction's problem is a card that isn't likely to match up to their first offering. While Fedor Emelianenko returns to take on ex-UFC champ Andrei Arlovski in a strong main event, the organization is still determining an opponent for Josh Barnett, and no co-feature has been announced. Since postponing their scheduled Oct. show, they've had plenty of time to line up their fights, and truth be told, the faster they get the information out, the more it would benefit them. 

Now they’ll have to find a way to re-group after what will be a nearly six-month hiatus, get their message out and convince people the show is worth their hard-earned cash while competing against UFC. It will be no easy feat. From an economic standpoint, they're fighting a losing battle. That's not to say anyone should count them out, but the facts are the facts: Affliction has promoted exactly one MMA card featuring 10 matches while the UFC essentially is MMA in America. The media coverage Affliction generates is largely a function of their potential, not their reality.

But the bigger point here in terms of their future existence is the strength of their bond with Golden Boy. Both companies spoke glowingly of each other in the honeymoon phase of their union, but after shifting strategies and differing goals, it seems fair to question whether it was a shotgun wedding capable of standing the test of time.

In a true partnership, wouldn't it be logical that both MMA and boxing would each have their own separate crack at the spotlight? Even though many people are exclusively fans of one sport, there are also many that overlap, and they will be forced to make a decision on Jan. 24 between free boxing or pay-per-view MMA. With holiday shopping bills on the way and two UFC events sandwiching Affliction's, that sounds like a decision that's not likely to benefit them.

Even Top Rank promotions head Bob Arum, who is co-promoting the Margarito-Mosley fight with Golden Boy, made note of the financial implications during the announcement.

“We're happy we can do the fight,” he said. “It's a good fight for HBO and good for the fans to get a fight like that without having to dig into their pockets.”

Boxing and MMA are close relatives in the combat sports world, but bitter enemies as well. Maybe one day the Golden Boy/Affliction partnership will prove beneficial to both in healing that wound, but they’re not exactly off to a rousing start.

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