Boxing On Hold for Affliction Event

With Affliction’s January show still a mystery outside of a few rumored bouts -- including a proposed headliner between world-ranked heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski -- Affliction Vice-President Tom Atencio said that the card would not include boxing matches as earlier planned.

“The January show is going to be an all-MMA card,” Atencio told Sherdog.com Thursday. An announcement is forthcoming next week, Atencio said, with a full fight card, dates, and details.

Sherdog.com has learned the event has been proposed for Jan. 24 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., site of Affliction’s inaugural “Banned” event last July. Both date and venue are still subject to change.

Days after postponing an Oct. 11 event in Las Vegas, Affliction announced its affiliation with boxing’s Golden Boy Promotions and released limited details of a collaboration to include co-inhabited events in the first quarter of 2009.

A rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito was rumored as a candidate to anchor the first crossover card, with a strong supporting cast of MMA bouts filling out the night, including a middleweight bout between recent Dream grand prix winner Gegard Mousasi and Vitor Belfort. Mousasi’s U.S. representation has confirmed that they are considering the bout.

Atencio said Affliction and Golden Boy are still on par to co-promote, just not as early as expected.

“It’s just not something we could work out (by January),” Atencio said of the mixed-sport card. But it is something they will “absolutely” do in the future, he added.