Affliction, Mosley-Margarito numbers in

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The California State Athletic Commission just released final gate and purse numbers from the Jan. 24 Affliction mixed martial arts show in Anaheim and the Staples Center boxing card that had Shane Mosley’s welterweight title victory over Antonio Margarito as its main event.

Margarito, whose ninth-round technical knockout loss to Mosley was made worse by the discovery that his hand wraps contained a foreign substance, was paid a high $2.3 million and Mosley earned $ 1 million, according to the CSAC report. Total purses were nearly $3.4 million, and the 20,820 in attendance generated live gate sales of $1,258,707.

Yet, Mosley’s promoter, Richard Schaefer, said the card was ‘absolutely’ profitable thanks to foreign television rights, sponsors, merchandising and HBO’s undisclosed domestic license fee.

‘I was very happy with the numbers,’ Schaefer said.

Meanwhile, Affliction President Tom Atencio paid nearly $2.4 million in purses for the MMA card highlighted by Russia’s Fedor Emelianenko defeating Andrei Arlovski in the first round. Arlovski was paid the most by Affliction ($1.5 million), with Emelianenko’s guaranteed $300,000 being bumped substantially by his deal with international promoter M-1. Emelianenko earns Russian television rights among other profits, promoters said.

The live gate at Affliction’s Honda Center show was $1,429,557, as 13,318 attended, according to the commission. Promoters expect the gate-purse gap to be closed when final pay-per-view numbers are made available. Schaefer said he’s been told the Affliction card had between 150,000 and 200,000 buys.

Atencio said, ‘If we break even or do just better, we’ll do OK.’ Atencio said he scrapped a tentatively scheduled Ozzy Ozbourne concert at the show to keep costs lower.

Atencio said he’s scheduled to meet with Schaefer Wednesday to discuss staging another Affliction card ‘in three to four months.’

-- Lance Pugmire