The biggest fight of Claressa Shields’ career drew slightly lower viewership than her previous appearance on Showtime. Nielsen Media Research viewership figures released Tuesday revealed that the Shields-Christina Hammer fight drew a peak audience of 369,000 viewers Saturday night. Average viewership for their 10-round middleweight title unification fight was 339,000.
Pick It: Claressa Shields vs. Christina Hammer (Saturday, Showtime, 9:10 PM EST). No, it’s not the biggest women’s boxing match of all time but it’s the biggest of a new era in the US and that’s good enough. If boxing is going to have a women’s movement to one day rival the success experienced in MMA, it’s going to take the type of attention, matchmaking, and promotion this one is getting. The 24-year old Shields (8-0, 2 KO), a two-time US Olympic Gold medalist, won a pair of super middleweight belts in her fourth fight and moved down the scale to win three more belts at middleweight.
It’s the type of ratings that any boxing executive would kill for—and the type of exposure that helps at least partially justifies Deontay Wilder’s choosing autonomy over money. The unbeaten heavyweight titlist was prominently featured in CBS’ “NCAA Final Four Basketball—Bridge” segment in between Saturday’s pair of tournament semifinals games. The show averaged 13.77 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the second most-watched primetime telecast for the week of April 1-7, trailing only Texas Tech’s win over Michigan State.
According to several reports, it appears that DAZN Group, which is the parent company behind the over-the-top streaming service DAZN, is in talks to sell off some of the Perform content to Vista Equity Partners. In 2014, billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries acquired majority control of Perform Group, which last year rebranded the company
Kubrat Pulev has drawn a lot more attention for what he did after defeating Bogdan Dinu than he did during their heavyweight fight Saturday night. ESPN’s two-bout broadcast, which featured Pulev and Dinu in the main event, drew an average of 469,000 viewers, according to figures released by Nielsen Media Research. That was the lowest average viewership for a Top Rank boxing show that aired in prime time since ESPN struck an exclusive content deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. in June 2017.
The most recent edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on FS1 never expected to post a win in the ratings column while going head-to-head with NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament. Then again, those who didn’t bother to tune in probably didn’t expect to miss out on the leading Fight of the Year contender, which can only help replay value. Sunday’s telecast averaged just over 290,000 viewers across Fox Sports’ various platforms, topped by Sergey Lipinets’ thrilling 10th round knockout of Lamont Peterson (35-5-1, 17KOs) in a battle of former titlists at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md.
In less than two months, Jarrett Hurd will get to relive the feeling of fighting in front of his adoring local fans for his May 11 homecoming versus Julian Williams. He’ll get his first taste on Sunday night, just not inside the ring. The unbeaten, unified super welterweight titlist will join the broadcast team for this Sunday’s PBC on FS1 card live from the MGM National Harbor Resort in Oxon Hill, Md. Hurd—who hails from nearby Accokeek, Md.—will serve as an expert analyst for the televised tripleheader.
Fox Sports went all in for its first Pay-Per-View, essentially investing four months worth of time and resources into its March 16 show, topped by Errol Spence’s 12-round shutout of Mikey Garcia in their battle of unbeaten pound-for-pound entrants at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The platform’s efforts proved to be a game-changer, especially given the commercial success; so, too, is the manner in which Fox Sports PPV events will be made available, as well as the extended period for such shows to remain available for purchase.
By Keith Idec - Bob Arum agrees wholeheartedly with Al Haymon. Yes, you read that correctly. The antagonistic adversary who’s rarely shy about blasting boxing’s most mysterious figure actually applauded him Thursday. From afar, Haymon has absorbed a lot of criticism this week for guiding Deontay Wilder a...
If you already subscribe to DAZN, you will have received much of this information in an email Thursday afternoon. If you’re considering subscribing or have been hesitant to do so, what you need to know is that the emerging streaming service has made some alterations to its subscription packages. Since its official launch in the United States with the Anthony Joshua-Alexander Povetkin fight September 22, DAZN has offered mostly boxing and MMA content for a monthly subscription cost of $9.99 per month.