Christ: "How in the hell did they get 5 mill.?"

Steve Berry At this point nothing is clear. Basically, Sherdog, Sam Caplan, and Kevin Iole have all tried to get to the bottom of this, and big surprise, every story is different. The person Sherdog spoke to at Golden Boy says there was a “financial commitment” made by Affliction, but not $5 million. Yesterday, Kevin Iole spoke to Larry Merchant, who said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer gave him the $5 million figure. Of course, Schaefer, speaking to Iole, vehemently denies that Golden Boy made even a cent. And rounding it out is Sam Caplan who is reporting Golden Boy was paid a six-figure fee for helping to produce and promote the event. What a freakin’ mess. So far, the only person claiming the $5 million fee is a man who hates MMA more than I hate American Idol (I really don’t like American Idol), so I’m inclined to believe him about as much as I believe Fedor was only paid $300,000 to knock out Andrei Arlovski. Which leaves, maybe Affliction coughed up an additional few hundred grand or maybe they didn’t.

MMAWeekly talks to Affliction CEO In response to the comments made by Merchant, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio said exclusively to MMAWeekly.com, “I think they’re completely ridiculous.” Merchant made no comment of where he got his information, but according to Atencio, the statement appears to be fabricated. “I don’t see where they would get it from,” stated Atencio. “But based on the comment I would say that yeah, he definitely had to make it up. “I’m not him, so I’m not going to assume anything like possibly they would. I’m not going to make rumors; all I can say is that it’s completely false.” According to Atencio, De La Hoya was at the Honda Center event because his Golden Boy Promotions was truly involved with the event because of their interest in mixed martial arts, and not because of an alleged payday. “We knew he was going to be there (because) he’s our partner,” commented Atencio. “Being our partner – the good partner that he is – he honored and wanted to live up to his part of the bargain; that was being part of the show.” As it stands currently, Atencio confirmed that Golden Boy Promotions continues to have a partnership with Affliction and will be involved with the mixed martial arts promotion’s future endeavors.

From Sherdog Bruce Binkow, Golden Boy’s Chief Marketing Officer, took Merchant’s comments in stride. “It’s ridiculous that there was a $5 million dollar fee paid ,” said Binkow. “There’s a financial commitment obviously that Affliction made, and Oscar felt an obligation through his partners at Affliction . I don’t know how more simple it can be and why it’s any more complicated than that.” And while Merchant might be questioning de La Hoya’s lack of allegiance to the sport that made him a star, Binkow said the former champion’s decision to grace “Day of Reckoning” was strictly business. “The pay-per-view date was set long before the boxing event, and Oscar didn’t feel right about offending his commitment to our partners in Affliction,” said Binkow. “I think it was a great night for both sports. There was packed houses at the Staples Center and the Honda Center, so we were thrilled with both events.” I'm still waiting for Payout and other sites to bring further evidence. Stay tuned.

imho thats not great promoting to pay dlh $5 million just to attend the fight. affliciton might go out of business if that ppv flopped I'm not sure they even were trying to. I'm thinking Merchant read the numbers wrong and everyone just rolled with it. But yeah, it's sad to pay one of your partners to show up.

From Bad Left Hook... I agree with Scott. If they're going nuts with the paydays, how did they get DLH the money? Plasma? I can see maybe 2 mill. No way in hell could it be five. imho thats not great promoting to pay dlh $5 million just to attend the fight. affliciton might go out of business if that ppv flopped

Have you watched the UFC? Those guys get paid the same amount as ****ing undercard fighters on boxing matches. Even the main eventers in the UFC get paid shit. Dana White is ****ing rich off this stuff.

Could just be a publicity stunt. A ploy to make the company seem more successful than it is. Subconciously, it DOES affect fans. Why support a failing product? If Affliction and Golden Boy have a partnership going, I don't see why DLH would be paid so much to be at the event. His interests are invested as well. I think they made a mistake producing both events on the same night. Its not smart business. They could have spread the events 2 weeks apart. Since the Affliction card is the least secure, they could have used the Margarito/Mosley event to promote the Affliction card and begin the process of making that Boxing fan/MMA fan line more blurry into just "fight fan". Fans should be shown that its OK to be a fan of both sports.