Comments Thread For: Beterbiev-Gvozdyk Averages 635,000 Viewers On ESPN

[Boxing Logic]

Am I tripping or does boxingscene post the "peak" numbers in the headlines for North American fighters, but the "average," which is always much lower, for the foreign fighters?

[killakali]

Not true. That dude that beat Conor McGregor is from the same country as Beterbiev. Americans care about him

Apples and oranges. Pbc had Beterbiev on the shelf remember. Khabib was very active. Beterbiev is just now fighting regularly

[killakali]

Am I tripping or does boxingscene post the "peak" numbers in the headlines for North American fighters, but the "average," which is always much lower, for the foreign fighters?

They post peak numbers for pbc and the average for
Top rank

[lieutenant]

Yeah, and Rocky fielding was an amazing draw when Canelo faced him for a paper title right? Gotta love when fans make lame excuses for a fighters selective choice of opponents. These numbers are actually indicative of the problem with boxing. There aren't enough real boxing fans anymore. There are too many groupies of certain fighters who mainly support them out of allegiance to race/nationality. So a great fight like this one will only do mediocre numbers because groupie casuals don't have interest unless it's someone they feel gives them nationalistic bragging rights. See Pacquiao, Canelo and Joshua fans as perfect examples.

The Fielding fight didn't do great numbers, as DAZN anticipated which is why they promoted it as a free fight giving everyone a month trial. Even Canelo can't fight a no name and expect everyone to tune in, DAZN knows this which is why they have to approve his opponent, there is no way they would have approved a fight Vs Bivol this fall for example.

Canelo fought the #1 middleweight (GGG) just 3 months ealier and fought the #3 middleweight (Jacobs) 5 months later. Now he is fighting Kovalev, ranked #2 LHW by numerous publications.

Yet you still have people saying Canelo is ducking every threat from 160-175...

[Boxing Logic]

It’s also a 32% improvement from the last ESPN show headlined by Beterbiev (15-0, 15KOs), as the two-time Olympian from Russia—who now lives and trains in Montreal, Canada—topped a May 4 card which averaged 480,000 live in primetime, while also going head to head with the NBA Playoffs and the DAZN-streamed middleweight championship bout between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs.

It's like they are intentionally trying to undercut the ratings of foreign fighters so they can keep them at the back of the line in terms of "A-sideness," economically, in the sport.

Beterbiev's first ESPN fight goes head to head with Canelo.

Gvozdyk's signature fight vs Stevenson goes head to head with the Wilder-Fury PPV.

Gvozdyk's last fight vs Ngumbu had something going on too I just forget what it was.

Now Gvozdyk and Beterbiev's unification fight gets put on a friday, going head to head with the MLB semifinal clinching game and UFC.

Wtf is going on here lol?? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but if once is a coincidence, what do you call it when it happens repeatedly?

[Boxing Logic]

The American ESPN audience has no interest in 2 unknown Eastern Europeans

Speak for yourself. That must be why it still did an average ESPN rating, meaning better than half of ESPN's boxing shows which mostly go on saturday's, on a friday night, splitting viewership with a popular American UFC fighter, Wideman, from New York, and the 5.6 million watching the MLB.

They bury these guys dates, then when the ratings are still average, you pretend that means no one wants to see them, and that seems to be the narrative that the US boxing establishment pushes as well. It's just not true. That's an excellent rating for combat sports on ESPN when it's going up against more combat sports on ESPN2 and the MLB playoffs, and it's on friday night with very little promotion.

[JakeNDaBox]

It's like they are intentionally trying to undercut the ratings of foreign fighters so they can keep them at the back of the line in terms of "A-sideness," economically, in the sport.

Beterbiev's first ESPN fight goes head to head with Canelo.

Gvozdyk's signature fight vs Stevenson goes head to head with the Wilder-Fury PPV.

Gvozdyk's last fight vs Ngumbu had something going on too I just forget what it was.

Now Gvozdyk and Beterbiev's unification fight gets put on a friday, going head to head with the MLB semifinal clinching game and UFC.

Wtf is going on here lol?? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but if once is a coincidence, what do you call it when it happens repeatedly?

Gvozdyk-Stevenson was the lead in to Wilder-Fury PPV, didn’t go head to head. It also didn’t rate well at all.

That said, boxing is always up against another big event just about every weekend. Not limited to Eastern Euro boxers. When you limit the sport to the same two nights of the week (and Saturdays more often than not) you’re going to keep running into conflicts.

[JakeNDaBox]

Am I tripping or does boxingscene post the "peak" numbers in the headlines for North American fighters, but the "average," which is always much lower, for the foreign fighters?

I admit, I don’t always post peak nor do I find it credible - especially in the case of this show, where it came at the start of the telecast, which was spillover from Pittsburgh-Syracuse. Round 7 of Abdukakhorov-Collazo was the highest rated part of the show - right when the telecast switched over from ESPNews once the college FB game finally ended.

It’s not a site decision, more so the difference whomever is reporting between Keith and myself.

[Jab jab boom]

The Fielding fight didn't do great numbers, as DAZN anticipated which is why they promoted it as a free fight giving everyone a month trial. Even Canelo can't fight a no name and expect everyone to tune in, DAZN knows this which is why they have to approve his opponent, there is no way they would have approved a fight Vs Bivol this fall for example.

Canelo fought the #1 middleweight (GGG) just 3 months ealier and fought the #3 middleweight (Jacobs) 5 months later. Now he is fighting Kovalev, ranked #2 LHW by numerous publications.

Yet you still have people saying Canelo is ducking every threat from 160-175...

well this link says you're wrong about the viewership of Canelo vs fielding.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.************.com/2018/12/canelo-vs-fielding-had-audience-of-26-million-viewers/amp/

Dazn is a subscription service and is very different from the ppv model as it relates to buys. So the excuse of other fighters needing to be a big draw is outdated and inaccurate. Any other logical explanations as to why Canelo shouldn't face beterbiev?

[lieutenant]

well this link says you're wrong about the viewership of Canelo vs fielding.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.************.com/2018/12/canelo-vs-fielding-had-audience-of-26-million-viewers/amp/

Dazn is a subscription service and is very different from the ppv model as it relates to buys. So the excuse of other fighters needing to be a big draw is outdated and inaccurate. Any other logical explanations as to why Canelo shouldn't face beterbiev?

I doubt DAZN is concerned about viewing numbers in Mexico, he's very popular there but they don't pay for subscriptions. They're shown on free TV. DAZN didn't release numbers for the Fielding fight.

It kind of works the same as PPV, you have to attract casuals to subscribe to your service. You'd assume a Canelo Vs Kovalev fight attracts more eyeballs than a Canelo Vs Bivol for example.

I have no idea how well Canelo will do at 175, we have to wait and see how he performs at the weight Vs Kovalev. I'm concerned he may lose some speed with the excess weight he is adding. If he wins then we can start asking those questions.