Report: Affliction, Golden Boy Haven't Given Up on Boxing-MMA Hybrid Cards

It was only about three months ago that Golden Boy Promotions and Affliction announced they would work together on both boxing and MMA cards. So far the partnership hasn't produced much outside of a pretty cool t-shirt for the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight, and it may reach a new level of negative synergy on January 24 when Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito do battle in L.A. at the same time Affliction's second MMA card is going on in Anaheim.

The high concept that came out of the initial announcement was that the companies would work together to put on cards that combined boxing and MMA matches on one show. As a fan of both sports - and someone who is often bored to tears during boxing undercards - I welcomed the idea. Around most of the internets, though, reaction wasn't as kind.

Whether it was fan backlash or the slumping economy that was the impetus, the companies put the kibosh on the idea of hybrid cards a few weeks later, and that was that.

Or maybe not. Affliction vice president Tom Atencio told Dave Doyle of Yahoo! Sports that the idea of combined cards is not dead, stating that they will take place at some point in the future.

While that's all well and good, it's this bit of reasoning that's hard to follow:

"Right now boxing and MMA have two separate audiences, but I think as time goes on you are going to see more crossover."

Atencio may prove to be right, but there are stigmas that need to be overcome before that can happen. To many current MMA fans, boxing is slow and boring, while equal numbers of boxing aficionados find the stand-up portion of MMA to be sloppy and undisciplined.

Someone will have to be brave enough to be the first to challenge those preconceived notions. Best of luck to Atencio and the people at Golden Boy if it indeed turns out to be them.