The Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev replay on HBO drew 834,000 viewers on Saturday night per Sports TV Ratings. The live fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters drew 761,000 viewers.
The replay of the PPV fight aired from 10:42pm-11:33pm ET aired first followed by the Lomachenko-Walters fight from 11:59pm-12:27am ET.
Per Sports TV Ratings, Ward-Kovalev drew 391,000 viewers in the adult 18-49 demo while Lomachenko-Walters drew 347,000 in the adult 18-49 demo.
Payout Perspective:
The replay did much better than the last PPV replay this past September for Alvarez-Smith which drew 459,000 viewers. Notably, there was a UFC Fight Night the same night as that HBO replay. This time around, HBO boxing did better than the UFC Fight Night from Melbourne on Saturday night. Of course, last Saturday occurred during a free preview weekend which may have bolstered the viewership.
Solid numbers, a view is a view nobody forced them to watch so it’s good sign.
Poor numbers Fight Fan, HBO boxing shows should never be under 1m viewers at the least.
Wil I think that the late start time had an effect on it.
Really embarrassing.
Fight Fan, I think this time of year is seeing a drop overall in combat sports viewership but I think it goes back to a total lack of real promotion by the promoters. Lomachenko, Ward, Kovalev, there has been little to no promotion of any of those fighters to an outward audience. These promoters just don’t have the skills Don King used to have.
I don’t understand why more people aren’t interested in Limachenko. He’s the best boxer on the planet. I hope this fight with Walters boosts his profile.
As for ratings – that’s just where the sport is these days. Not bad, but not good either.
Diego he just needs a few more fights with some big names.
I think he also needs a big sponsor, it helped Golovkin when he was seen on that Apple commercial shadow boxing.
And I agree, skillwise Lomachenko is the best boxer alive, the best amateur boxer in history, and on his way to being one of those generationally great fighters that defines an era like Mayweather was for the 2000s and 2010s, and what Jones Jr was for the 90s
Ward needs to start looking towards the Heavyweight division it is his calling to be the best Heavyweight on the planet. Every fight becomes PPV worthy then. Fury is the perfect bullseye for any heavyweight. I can see Andre moving to Heavyweight the same way Ali and Holyfield did. It’s a game changer having an interesting Heavyweight picture in the frame work. Hurray !
For real? If he couldnt punch hard at Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, at his small size, why would you think he would be successful against the likes of a Wilder, Fury, Parker, Joshua, etc etc?
I can remember when Holyfield moved to Heavyweight he was given the same criticism about his punching power. There are no Heavyweights fighting today as big and good as Riddick Bowe and Holyfield stood and traded with the biggest of them. Andre Ward can go with anybody and then some. It’s time.
I just dont see it bro. Holyfield at least won his first title at Cruiser and showed power at that weight in stopping guys like Qawi, Ocasio, etc etc. And for that time, Bowe was a massive heavyweight, he is actually average about now. Ward just hasnt shown that power, and Im not even sure he handles Kovalev in a rematch or Stevenson. I think he has his hands full at Light Heavy, and the cards against him at Cruiser. I have seen him talk about making that jump, but I dont think its in any way realistic.