Vitali vs Arreola gets the biggest ratings of the year for HBO Boxing

Oct 02, 2009 - There's something about these gargantuan beasts that draws quite a stir amongst the U.S. public. This past Saturday, Vitali Klistchko and Chris Arreola would square off in a fight deemed as a mismatch by the vocal knowledgeable boxing fanatics following the sport. Nevertheless the fight garnered a Nielsen Rating figure that is by far the highest of 2009. Here are the offical numbers for both Arreola-Klitschko as well as the replay of Mayweather-Marquez: 9/26/2009 - Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (replay) - 1.343 million viewers 9/26/2009 - Vitali Klitschko vs. Chris Arreola (live) - 2.124 million viewers Astounding to say the least as the last fight on HBO to garner over 2 million viewers was the May 2008 bout between Oscar De la Hoya and Steve "Two Pound" Forbes. For those of you that remember, De la Hoya-Forbes experienced a 30 minute countdown show the week prior to their showdown. The fact that Klitschko-Arreola was able to duplicate those ratings minus the extremely hefty price tags is a good thing for the programming on HBO. I am a firm believer that all license fees paid by HBO should be set and bonuses should be shelled out for fights exceeding a certain ratings requirement. In any case, the heavyweights showed that the tradition of tuning into the big boys when the best square off hasn't changed much. Apparently there's a market for this type of thing... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=1095 Goes to show people love the big men.