Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and Fox Sports couldn’t have asked for a stronger start to fight week.
Shoulder programming for Saturday’s Fox Sports Pay-Per-View headliner between welterweight titlists Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter continues to be consumed in record-breaking numbers, including this weekend’s offering, all of which aired live on Fox’s flagship station.
The third and fourth installments of PBC Fight Camp: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Shawn Porter broke its own record on consecutive days.
Episode 3 aired this past Saturday, drawing a series-best average of 971,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. That mark was nearly doubled by Episode 4, which aired on Sunday and averaged 1.706 million viewers. The installment was slotted immediately after the single-game offering of NFL on FOX in most markets (which showed the boxing-adjacent Dallas Cowboys trouncing the Miami Dolphins), while other markets aired the episode right before its Game of the Week.
Wedged in between live NFL action and red carpet coverage of the primetime Emmy awards was a special Sunday afternoon edition of Inside PBC Boxing. The 60-minute show—which was largely dedicated to previewing the forthcoming welterweight title unification clash—averaged 791,000 viewers. The strong showing provided an 84% increase from a similarly slotted installment ahead of Fox Sports’ PPV debut, when Spence (25-0, 21KOs) soundly outpointed previously unbeaten Mikey Garcia. The PPV-centric episode of Inside PBC Boxing averaged 431,000 viewers six days ahead of fight night.
Spence will attempt the fourth defense of a welterweight reign which began with an 11th round knockout of England’s Kell Brook in their May 2017 clash in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, England. Saturday will mark the second straight PPV headliner for the unbeaten southpaw from Desoto, Texas. His win over Garcia gin March generated roughly 375,000 buys while playing to an announced crowd of 47,525 at AT&T Stadium (home of the Cowboys) in Arlington, Texas.
Saturday’s PPV event will take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., marking Spence’s first ring apearance in the L.A. market since his second pro bout in Dec. 2012 shortly following his stint on the 2012 U.S. Olympic boxing team which competed in London.
Interestingly, it came on a card where Porter (30-2-1, 17KOs) suffered his first career blemish, a 10-round draw versus former titlist Julio Diaz. The Akron, Ohio native—who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, Nev.—righted the ship nine months later, scoring a 10-round decision in his final non-title fight before beginning the first of two welterweight title reigns following a 12-round win over Devon Alexander in Dec. 2013.
Just one successful defense came of the run before losing to Brook in their Aug. 2014 clash at StubHub Center (now Dignity Health Sports Park) in Carson, Calif. He returned the venue this past March as a defending two-time titlist, eking out a 12-round decision over Yordenis Ugas this past March, his first defense following a close but clear points win over former two-division titlist Danny Garcia last September.
Porter—who also serves as a Fox Sports studio host and occasional fight night commentator—also made a guest appearance on Fox NFL Sunday, the network’s long-running hit pre-game series. His segment was part of a show which averaged 4.817 million viewers.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
