Michael Buffer Will Call Antonio Margarito vs. Shane Mosley, Not Affliction MMA

There's something about Michael Buffer's booming voice and "Let's get ready to rumble" catchphrase that makes a fight feel more significant. So when Buffer worked as the ring announcer over the summer at Affliction: Banned and said "Let's get ready to rumble" before Fedor Emelianenko fought Tim Sylvia, it was just one more element that made it feel like a big-time event.

However, Buffer is a boxing guy first and an MMA guy second, and Golden Boy Promotions has confirmed to me that Buffer will call the Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley fight on January 24, and not the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card the same night. So someone other than Buffer will be introducing Fedor and Andrei Arlovski.

This isn't a big deal -- Buffer is, after all, just an announcer -- but it's another reminder that the partnership between Golden Boy and Affliction isn't much of a partnership. Golden Boy is a force in the fight promoting game and could be a huge asset to Affliction -- except that it's putting on an event in the same area on the same night, and it's devoting its resources to boxing.

I love both boxing and MMA, and I don't necessarily see the two sports as competitors. But on January 24 fans and the media will have to choose one or the other. Buffer has chosen boxing.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-02-2009 @ 6:21PM

B. FRANK said...

WELL, MDS, I COULDN'T DISAGREE WITH YOU MORE ABOUT MMA AND BOXING NOT BEING COMPETITORS. OF COURSE THEY'RE COMPETITORS, ONLY MMA IS KICKING THE CRAP OUT OF BOXING AND EARNING A WHOLE LEGION OF NOT ONLY CASUAL FANS, BUT BOXING FANS AS WELL.

BOXING WILL ALWAYS EXIST, BUT AS FAR AS BEING ABLE TO MAINTAIN THAT MEGA EVENT STATUS WHERE STARS, CASUAL, AND HARDCORE FANS GO TO SEE SOMETHING SPECIAL, IS QUICKLY DIMINISHING. BOB ARUM, DON KING, AND GARY (JABBA THE HUT) SHAW HAS RUN THE SPORT INTO THE DEEPEST BOTTOMLESS ABYSS OF SEWAGE SCUM. THANK GOD JABBA FAILED IN MMA (WHICH I KNEW HIS FAT A$$ WOULD). HOWEVER, WITH THE SAME OLD CORRUPT PLAYERS IN THE GAME, A DECREASING NUMBER OF CROSS OVER STARS, AND NO WORTHWHILE MEGA FIGHTS ON THE HORIZON, BOXING WILL CERTAINLY TAKE A BACK SEAT TO MMA WITHIN THE NEXT 5 YEARS, IF NOT SOONER. THERE'S JUST NO WAY TO TURN BOXING AROUND ANYTIME SOON, WHILE GOLDEN BOY PRODUCTIONS IS DOING THE SPORT SOME JUSTICE, THERE'S JUST SO MANY TIMES FANS CAN WATCH THEM RECYCLE THEIR TOP THREE NAMED GUYS (DELAHOYA, HOPKINS, & MOSLEY), AND CONTINUE TO DO SO WITH ENTHUSIASM.

DANA WHITE AND THE FERTITTA'S COULDN'T HAVE DONE THE UFC ANY BETTER. UNLIKE BOXING, WHEN THERE'S A MATCH UP THAT THE FANS WANT TO SEE, THAT FIGHT WILL NOT ONLY BE MADE, BUT IT WILL BE MADE WITHIN A COUPLE OF MONTHS. NOT LIKE BOXING WHERE WE WOULD HAVE TO HOPE AND PRAY FIGHTERS WOULD FIGHT EACH OTHER IN THEIR PRIME AND WHILE BOTH ARE CHAMPIONS IN THE SAME OR CLOSE WEIGHT CLASS. AFTER THE LEONARD/HEARNS/HAGLER/ DURAN ERA WAS OVER, FIGHTS THAT WE WANTED TO SEE NOW, WOULD HAPPEN ONCE EVERY 3 OR 4 YEARS. OR THEY WOULD HAPPEN LONG AFTER THE FIGHTERS WERE IN THEIR PRIME AND HAVE SUFFERED SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT LOSSES. BUT AS LOYAL BOXING FANS, WE WOULD TAKE WHAT WE COULD GET. THE PROMOTERS ALWAYS MADE IT ABOUT THEMSELVES AND NOT THE SPORT, JUST MILKING WHATEVER THEY COULD FROM EVERY FIGHTER IN THEIR STABLE. THEN AFTER THE PROMOTERS, IT WAS WHAT NETWORK THEY WERE SIGNED TO WOULD AIR THE EVENT, THEN SQUABBLE ON WHICH FIGHTER SHOULD GET PAID MORE, THEN . . . . . WELL SO ON AND SO FORTH.

NOW WITH THE UFC BEING THE CENTER STAGE FOR THE SPORT, DANA WHITE GIVES THE FANS EVERYTHING WE WANT AND MORE. NO BUILDING UP GUYS WITH A LIST OF NOBODIES THEN FIGHTING FOR THE TITLE BECAUSE THEY'RE RECORD IS 82-O, NO MORE ROY JONES' WHO SIGNS A LUCRATIVE DEAL WITH HBO, CLAIMING TO BE POUND FOR POUND KING AND FIGHTING GUYS WHO'S PARENTS NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THEM. WELL AT LEAST DON KING AND BOB ARUM ARE RICH NOW, RIGHT?

1-26-2009 @ 2:20PM

BRUTAL said...

MMA fighters get paid penny's on the Dollars, while Boxers get paid Millions, why you ask? It's simple boxing has been a sport for Hundreds of years, and mma only for what 10 years or so? Boxing is an art not a bunch of Drunks, alcoholics that will fight for $4,000 on the undercard, wow!! the reason you see mma fights being put on within 2-3 months is because, Dana White, and his Bosses keep all the millions and the fighters get paid Sh!t!! and the fighters are so thirsty for Fame, they don't even negotiate of their pay. Boxers aren't stupid if the public wants to see blood then they have to get millions not thousands.

MMA

Michael Buffer Will Call Antonio Margarito vs. Shane Mosley, Not Affliction MMA

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