Boxing fans in the United States have been thirsty for great heavyweight boxing and the rating for last-saturday’s match up between Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne prove it.
ESPN’s Dan Rafael had the exact ratings for the fight:
According to Nielsen Media Research, the bout drew an average audience of 1.24 million viewers (with a peak of 1.34 million) to Showtime for its first major card of the year.
That blew away Showtime’s 2014 most viewed fight, which was junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia’s controversial decision win against Mauricio Herrera, which averaged 972,000 viewers.
Wilder-Stiverne was not far off of last year’s most viewed fight in the United States, which was the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Bryan Vera rematch. That fight averaged 1.39 million viewers on HBO, which is in around 7 million more homes than Showtime.
Wilder will most likely take his talents to NBC and Al Haymon’s prime time boxing showcases. I’m sure we will see these views jump when he decides to defend the title on network TV.