HBO’s Boxing After Dark drew an average viewership of 740,000 viewers for its main fight of the evening which featured Luis Ortiz versus Tony Thompson.
Ortiz knocked out Thompson in the sixth-round on Saturday night. The fight, which aired from 11:10pm-11:33pm ET drew 740,000 viewers and 313,000 viewers in the Adults 18-49 demo per Sports TV Ratings.
In the other televised fight of the night, Jessie Vargas defeated Sadam Ali via stoppage in round 9. The fight drew 726,000 viewers from 10:11pm-10:46 ET. It drew 320,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo.
Notably, the highest rated portion of the program was during the initial pre-fight from 10:01pm-10:11pm which drew 811,000 viewers overall and 372,000 in the Adult 18-49 demo.
Payout Perspective:
It’s interesting to see how many HBO subscribers tuned in to watch boxing on a night with a well-promoted UFC PPV on at about the same time. Notably, there was a disparity between the overall viewership and those in the 18-49 demo. The latter did not tune in for the boxing and you might guess they were watching the UFC PPV. The numbers seem to tell you what we already knew about the boxing versus MMA demo – boxing skews to an older audience. Of course, it’s not like we had the “A” side fighting on HBO Saturday either.
King kong is getting popular per fight…golden boy wants him to fight minimum of 3 or 4 this year and max every 2 months…tyson fury,kltchko,david haye,anthony joshua,parker,wilder and this new lucas brown…hw boxing is stacked hahaha
Decent but low for HBO. Cant put someone like King Kong in with Thompson and expect high numbers. And thats going to be a problem for him since he is signed with Golden Boy who has NOTHING at heavyweight. He should have signed with Haymon or Top Rank or even gone to Europe with Matchroom or K2. Im not sure I see his career going anywhere at all. On the other hand, the undercard between Vargas and Ali was an excellent fight all the way to the ending, and the numbers clearly show thats who the fans preferred.
Tops E, heavyweight boxing is stacked this is true, but Ortiz, especially at 36, may not go anywhere special in his career, especially with Matchroom and Al Haymon controling the titles at present……Ortiz should have never signed with Golden Boy.
Good point…but as you said at 36 if he signed with promoter with a lot of heavyweights he wont be a priority…since hbo is pissed at haymon and joined forces with goldenboy, he is given the opportunity to be seen by the public and k.o ing everybody helps…what theyll do is lineup fighters that kljtchko faced and k.o that fighter…then public clamor could land him fights
Goldenboy promotion became depleted with haymon signing many of its fighters but golden boy with hbo is very strong….more promotions better for the industry,more boxers are marketed to the public
Boxing has been so good as a sport in the last 5 years but the last year has been neurotic as hell as far as the success and ratings of the sport.
As far as PPV goes, May/Pac was a huge commercial success, so was Canelo/Cotto and Fury/Klitschko but Lemieux/GGG was not (despite good attendance in NY and despite being a good/decent matchup on paper).
HBO had ratings all over the place with Klitschko/Jennings and Canelo/Kirkland doing well but other cards had pretty average ratings despite being good/decent.
Showtime has had good cards/fights but very poor ratings. That’s depressing, having a good product but no good return on it. Some people say the reason is that Showtime is losing subscribers so obviously, boxing ratings are going to suffer.
PBC has had mediocre success despite having a solid product. I find PBC to have put up pretty decent boxing matches on average. Others would disagree but that is my opinion. PBC, though, wants to be the “Boxing UFC” and that’s no good. It would suck the life out of the sport and make boxers’ purses go down after a while. Boxers would end up like UFC guys: underpaid, interchangeable and undervalued.
The talent level is extremely high in boxing these days and the Heavyweight division is really coming back to life. The HBO card last Saturday was good for sure, Ali/Vargas was great but nobody expected very old Tony Thompson to be a match for old-but-younger Ortiz.
Luis Ortiz should fight Hughie Fury or Lucas Browne next although I think Ortiz will be avoided like the plague by bigger names in the Heavy div., he’s too much of a threat and he’s not famous enough for it to be a $ reward if you defeat him.
740k viewers…stacked division??? Hahahaha.
@d
The UFC has nobody in the Heavyweight division. Name four or five UFC heavyweights that people care about.
HBO is actually working with Haymon again, the fella fighting GGG in the next bout is an undefeated haymon fighter.
PBC has had some real success with its NBC, CBS, and FOX shows, mixed success on ESPN, good numbers on Spike. Definitely doing better than their fight cards on Showtime thats for sure.
French-Canadian. You must not follow the sport: Werdum, Miocic, Velasquez, Fedor.
By the way, boxing has nobody in the hw division(or really anyone other than Canelo) that anyone will pay to watch. The same can not be said about mma, Werdum will outdraw any hw boxer in ppv over the past decade.
Wil, PBC is an utter failure. It bombed across the board and has been proven to be unsustainable. They will be under within a year unless someone wants to lose a lot more money, which I don’t see happening.
According to d, 750,000 viewers is good when it comes to MMA but bad when it comes to boxing.
D, bro….my man….we have been here before. Wlad and Fury sold out 40,000 seats in Germany, and was ppv in the UK. 20,000 people filled the O2 to watch Hayes last fight. Martin vs. Joshua sold out in less than 9 minutes, all 20,000 seats…..watch how many people fill a stadium for Lucas Browne if and when he defends his belt in Australia. Even a relative unknown in the USA like Wilder sells out his home stadium in Alabama.
Clearly boxing isnt your cup of tea, and thats fine, but its existence shouldnt make you feel threatened my man.
Yes, we have, it is a shame you don’t get it. International market is not even close to N. America. Sky tv ppv is a joke to compare to US/Canada ppv. Literally pennies on the dollar.
Attendance is another joke stat. Who cares how many people show up? It matters how much revenue they are generating and those stadium shows you refer to are literally less than the UFC mid level shows that only hold 20k people.
I’m not threatened by boxing. I never said it was dead, and I don’t think it will ever be completely gone. It has, however taken a back seat to mma.
D believes no one will pay for anyone besides Canelo, as if Pacquiao somehow doesn’t exist. Or that 55,000 people didn’t fill Espirit Arena to watch Klitschko-Fury, or the 450k ppvs that were sold in England for Joshua-Whyte.
Boxing is smashing the UFC.
McGregor lost, Rousey lost, Holms lost, John Jones could be dead, nobody knows.
Now all of a sudden GSP is back….
TG believes that Pacquaio isn’t going to be retired in a month.
Klitschko-Fury, Joshua-Whyte did zero US/Canada ppv buys. That is very telling.
To say that boxing is smashing the UFC is so crazy, I can’t believe someone would actually post something like that. Boxing’s ppv is in the gutter, their PBC-network tv hopes have been destroyed after failing miserably, HBO/Showtime aren’t putting out Bellator numbers, the only two boxing stars over the past 8 years are all but retired, and the sport overall is just losing interest. This is probably the worst state boxing has been in, arguably ever.
The UFC on the other hand, just set a record last year in ppv gross, overall revenue, their ratings are doing great on FS1, FOX shows have been steady, their crossover appeal into the mainstream has been amazing also with SNL hosts, movie stars, constant tv appearances, everyone including local sports radio talking about them after their ppvs. This is the best state mma has ever been in, and it looks like it is only going to grow further.
EE FC 160 Velasquez vs Bigfoot II 380,000
UFC 161 Henderson vs Evans 140,000
UFC 162 Silva vs Weidman 550,000
UFC 163 Aldo vs Jung 180,000
UFC 164 Henderson vs Pettis 270,000
UFC 165 Jones vs Gustafsson 310,000
UFC 166 Velasquez vs JDS III 330,000
UFC 167 GSP vs Hendricks 630,000
UFC 168 Weidman vs Silva II 1,025,000
UFC 169 Barao vs Faber II 230,000
UFC 170 Rousey vs McMann 350,000
UFC 171 Hendricks vs Lawler 300,000
UFC 172 Jones vs Teixeira 350,000
Bellator 120 Rampage vs King Mo 100,000
UFC 173 Barao vs Dillashaw 215,000
UFC 174 Johnson vs Bagautinov 115,000
UFC 175 Weidman vs Machida 545,000
UFC 176 Aldo vs Mendes II Canceled
UFC 177 Dillashaw vs Soto 125,000
UFC 178 Johnson vs Cariaso 205,000
UFC 179 Aldo vs Mendes II 180,000
UFC 180 Werdum vs Hunt 185,000
UFC 181 Hendricks vs Lawler II 400,000
UFC 182 Jones vs Cormier 800,000
UFC 183 Silva vs Diaz 650,000
UFC 184 Rousey vs Zingano 600,000
UFC 185 Pettis vs Dos Anjos 310,000
UFC 186 Johnson vs Horiguchi 125,000
UFC 187 Johnson vs Cormier 375,000
UFC 188 Velasquez vs Werdum 300,000
UFC 189 McGregor vs Mendes 825,000
UFC 190 Rousey vs Correia 900,000
UFC 191 Johnson vs Dodson II 115,000
UFC 192 Cormier vs Gustafsson 250,000
UFC 193 Rousey vs Holm 1,100,000
UFC 194 Aldo vs McGregor 1,200,000
UFC 195 Lawler vs Condit 300,000
25/36 of the last MMA ppvs have been under 500K buys.
Of the 11 that were above 500k….Silvas basically done, GSP is gone, Weidman lost, Rousey lost, McGregor lost, Jones has issues, Cormier did 800k against Jones and lost but did 250k against Gustaffson.
There is nothing for the UFC to push right now.
Yea Rousey and Mcgregor will be able to draw one more time but if the lose, which they will, its ovee.
Maybe Sage Corncutt can save them
Hahaha.
UFC 182 Jones vs Cormier 800,000
UFC 183 Silva vs Diaz 650,000
UFC 184 Rousey vs Zingano 600,000
UFC 189 McGregor vs Mendes 825,000
UFC 190 Rousey vs Correia 900,000
UFC 193 Rousey vs Holm 1,100,000
UFC 194 Aldo vs McGregor 1,200,000
And 196 just did likely over 1m.
So that is 8 ppvs over the past 14 months that have hit 600k+, 6 that have hit 800k+, and likely 3 over the past 4 months that have hit 1m+ ppv buys. Those are amazing astronomical numbers and boxing has NEVER done that before ever, not even close.
Between the two sports, the last 3 ppvs that hit 1m were from the UFC. Boxing hasn’t done a ppv that hit 1m in almost a year. They may not even get one this year. The UFC will likely do 3. The jury is in with the ufc-boxing ppv trial, the verdict is overwhelming dominance by the UFC.
What’s even worse for boxing is their only ppv star has no real solid fighters to face other than GGG (who he is dodging like the plague), so he is taking on blown up jr welterweights while he is a clear mw. Also, the beauty of their other situation is IF Canelo does actually man up and fight GGG, he will lose and with it, so will boxing’s only big draw. GGG could still be some what of a solid draw, but not like Pac, Mayweather, Canelo, based on the lack of a following and his ratings/ppv.
I’m really looking forward to your excuses and how absurd they become later in the year after UFC 200 and Rousey-Tate, while boxing produces next to nothing. You are digging really deep right now, but you will go below the core after those fights come around. Haha.
You talk about records but those records are only records that the UFC set to compete with themselves.
When it comes to combat sports, boxing owns the records.
Highest selling PPV? Boxing
Most watched event? Boxing.
Most attended event? Boxing
Highest paid fighter? Boxing
Highest grossing Revenue for a fight? Boxing
Even if your “records” meant anything, they wouldn’t last. Your draws lost. Its over
UFC 183 Silva vs Diaz 650,000
UFC 184 Rousey vs Zingano 600,000
UFC 189 McGregor vs Mendes 825,000
UFC 190 Rousey vs Correia 900,000
UFC 193 Rousey vs Holm 1,100,000
UFC 194 Aldo vs McGregor 1,200,000
Thats cute.
Lets see, Silva hasnt won since 2012, Nick Diaz hasnt won since 2011.
Rousey got destroyed last fight and cried.
Zingano lost her last fight and hasnt fought in over a year.
Mcgregor lost his last fight, Mendes lost his last two fights.
Correia lost her last fight, Holm lost her last fight, Aldo lost his last fight.
Wow.
Look at all those losers.
They got a long term plan with all those losers dont they…..
“You talk about records but those records are only records that the UFC set to compete with themselves.”
Nope, those were records the ufc hit among all combat sports. Boxing never did that many big shows in that short of time.
“Highest selling PPV? Boxing
Most watched event? Boxing.
Most attended event? Boxing
Highest paid fighter? Boxing
Highest grossing Revenue for a fight? Boxing”
Most ppv buys/revenue 2008 between the UFC and all of boxing? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’09? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’10? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’11? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’12? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’13? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’15? UFC
Most ppv buys/revenue ’16? Forgone conclusion…UFC
“UFC 183 Silva vs Diaz 650,000
UFC 184 Rousey vs Zingano 600,000
UFC 189 McGregor vs Mendes 825,000
UFC 190 Rousey vs Correia 900,000
UFC 193 Rousey vs Holm 1,100,000
UFC 194 Aldo vs McGregor 1,200,000
Thats cute.
Lets see, Silva hasnt won since 2012, Nick Diaz hasnt won since 2011.
Rousey got destroyed last fight and cried.
Zingano lost her last fight and hasnt fought in over a year.
Mcgregor lost his last fight, Mendes lost his last two fights.
Correia lost her last fight, Holm lost her last fight, Aldo lost his last fight.
Wow.
Look at all those losers.
They got a long term plan with all those losers dont they…..”
Haha. Two of those “losers” will hit 1m buys in their next fights and the only 2 boxers who have done even mentionable ppv numbers over the past 8 years are retired and retiring within a month, respectively. Talk about a long term plan. Haha.
“Yea Rousey and Mcgregor will be able to draw one more time but if the lose, which they will, its ovee.”
So laughable. Rousey will beat Tate, so you are wrong there and McGregor will likely beat Aldo, so you are 0 for 2 here again. Nothing new.
Also, if they lose, unlike boxing, they can replace their fighters with bigger stars. Do I need to dig up old quotes of you saying the same exact thing about Silva/GSP? You also ignore Jones and all the other fighters who can draw a good ppv, unlike boxing.
Yea dig those quotes up about GSP, especially since hes comin back.
Maybe Liddel will come back too.
Most PPV buys in a year is the records your claiming?
Are you tryin to compare 13 UFC ppvs a year to boxings 4 a year?
What happen in the year 2014?
What happen was boxing decided to put out 8-9 ppvs instead of only 4, and of course they did bigger numbers with 8 ppvs than the UFC did with 13.
Let the people see what D will try to do.
Ds only response is that the UFC sells more ppvs a year than boxing. Well of course 13 ppvs will inevitably outsell 4. But those 4 will sell on a better average. Once again let the record show that 25 of the last 36 MMA ppvs have been under 500K. 17 have sold 300k or less.
Thats half. Half.
Lets see if D can answer the questions or will he just ramble on.
Biggest selling ppv ever?
Highest grossing fight ever?
Most attended fight ever?
Biggest live gate ever?
Highest paid fighter ever?
Most watched fight ever?
Can you name each record and which sport owns them?
By the way Canelo-Cotto got a bigger live gate than ANY UFC event ever.
It also made more revenue than ANY UFC event ever.
Both fighters (Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto) made more money than ANY UFC fighter ever.
We’re talkin playoffs?
Any truth to bernard vs ggg for his last fight or hopkins vs kingkong?
“Yea dig those quotes up about GSP, especially since hes comin back.
Maybe Liddel will come back too.”
That went way over your head. The point was you’ve said these exact same things in the past, and they turn out to be false. You said the UFC was done after GSP and Silva were done. Then Rousey and McGregor pop up and become bigger draws then GSP and Silva ever were.
“Most PPV buys in a year is the records your claiming?”
It isn’t a claim, it is a fact.
“Are you tryin to compare 13 UFC ppvs a year to boxings 4 a year?”
When boxing increased their ppvs to 7 in 2014, they actually wound up doing less buys. The reason being is boxing does not have the star power to fill more than 4ppvs per year. So, the comparison is fair.
“What happen in the year 2014?”
Hahaha. Yeah, 1 year out of how many? And it was only because of all the injuries.
“What happen was boxing decided to put out 8-9 ppvs instead of only 4,”
They did less buys, proving your theory is dead wrong.
” and of course they did bigger numbers with 8 ppvs than the UFC did with 13.”
Soley because of the injuries. If we match up the buyrate from boxing and their buys from 2014, they would lose to all of the other UFC years outside of 2014. Haha.
“But those 4 will sell on a better average. ”
This isn’t even true anymore. If we take the top 4 ufc ppvs for 2016 and compare them to boxing, the UFC numbers will be considerably more and you will continue to spin them.
“Once again let the record show that 25 of the last 36 MMA ppvs have been under 500K. 17 have sold 300k or less.
Thats half. Half.”
Once again, the record will show that 8 out of the last 9 years, the UFC has dominated the ppv market share with more buys and revenue.
Lets see if mr delusion can answer who has owned the ppv market in
’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’15, and soon to be ’16.
Can you name them? Hahaha.
You wish Canelo-Cotto made more money, the fact remains it wouldn’t even be in the top 10 for ufcs.
MCGREGOR/ROUSEY/JONES, no 1, 2, 3 stars in combat sports!!! No boxers even close! HAHAHAHA!!!
d on March 9th, 2016 8:42 PM
“You said the UFC was done after GSP and Silva were done. Then Rousey and McGregor pop up and become bigger draws then GSP and Silva ever were.”
Except for they didn’t. GSP and Silva were draws for years. GSP was part of the biggest UFC ppv ever. McGregor and Rousey just recently got popular and they lost, and will probably lose again.
At this moment, you don’t have any stars that are coming fresh off a win with no troubled issues stemming recently.
d on March 9th, 2016 8:42 PM
“Once again, the record will show that 8 out of the last 9 years, the UFC has dominated the ppv market share with more buys and revenue.
MCGREGOR/ROUSEY/JONES, no 1, 2, 3 stars in combat sports!!! No boxers even close! HAHAHAHA!!!”
They haven’t dominated the market. Mayweather dominated the ppv market. 4.6M ppvs for a single event, and your drooling over a bunch of 115K-300K ppvs with the occasional 800k, but since you but 13 out a year you think you won something. You didn’t and in 2014 boxing personally went out of its way by throwing a few more ppvs in there and left UFC in the dust.
UFC was established in 1993. So according to you boxing has dominated 93,94,95,96,97,98,99,00,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,14.
So even in your own theory boxing is up 16-7.
So you lose on that basis as well.
And no UFC fighter is in the top 5 for stars in combat sports.
Canelo, Pacquiao, Klitschko, Fury, Cotto.
“Except for they didn’t. GSP and Silva were draws for years. GSP was part of the biggest UFC ppv ever. McGregor and Rousey just recently got popular and they lost, and will probably lose again.”
What? Rousey’s been around for years. McGregor may have gotten popular quickly, but the amount of big fights he’s put on his amassed nearly anyone in ppv’s numbers. The reality is, if he beats Aldo at ufc 200, that will give him at least 2 more big ppvs. He will be close to Pac in terms of career ppv buys.
“At this moment, you don’t have any stars that are coming fresh off a win with no troubled issues stemming recently.”
At this moment, boxing doesn’t have any ppv stars that can sell a big ppv on their own like McGregor and Rousey.
“They haven’t dominated the market. Mayweather dominated the ppv market. 4.6M ppvs for a single event, and your drooling over a bunch of 115K-300K ppvs with the occasional 800k, but since you but 13 out a year you think you won something. You didn’t and in 2014 boxing personally went out of its way by throwing a few more ppvs in there and left UFC in the dust.”
Yes they have. The numbers are listed on this site. They show the dominance over the past decade. It isn’t even close. The UFC embarrasses boxing in the ppv dept ever year like they will again this year. Speaking of dust, how is PBC doing? Haha.
“UFC was established in 1993. So according to you boxing has dominated 93,94,95,96,97,98,99,00,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,14.
So even in your own theory boxing is up 16-7.
So you lose on that basis as well.”
Hahahahaha. He’s gotta go back to the SEG days to grasp for a straw. Hahahaha.
Boxing equals ancient history. Hahaha.
“And no UFC fighter is in the top 5 for stars in combat sports.
Canelo, Pacquiao, Klitschko, Fury, Cotto.”
McGregor no.1, Rousey 2, Jones 3! MMA dominance. HAHAHAHA!!
Both boxing and mma are doing fine all over the world, anyone saying anything otherwise is selling something….and buyer beware on both ends….