Bernard Hopkins’ last fight of his career drew 934,000 viewers on HBO Saturday night per Sports TV Ratings. Hopkins was knocked through the ring ropes by Joe Smith, Jr. and could not continue.
The fight, which aired from 11:54 to 12:24 am, drew 464,000 viewers in the adult 18-49 demo. It also peaked at 1.035 million (according to Nielsen) at the time that Hopkins was knocked out.
In addition to the main event, there were two other fights during the telecast. The opening bout between cruiserweights Oleksandr Usyk and Thabiso Mchunu drew 560,000 viewers (270,000 A18-49). Usyk prevailed via TKO in the 9th round. In the second fight of the night, Joseph Diaz and Horacio Garcia battled in a matchup of featherweights. Diaz won via decision. That fight drew 644,000 viewers (304,000 A18-49).
Payout Perspective:
The HBO fight occurred after the UFC on Fox event went off the air so there was no real overlap. The ratings are a good bounce back from last week’s Terrence Crawford fight. Of course, that telecast ran opposite a Showtime card and UFC on PPV. Likely, many tuned in to see the 51-year-old Hopkins one last time. Unfortunately, for Hopkins fans, he was sent through the ropes unceremoniously to end his career.
Hopkins is the ultimate junk yard dog. A true Legend.
Considering that Hopkins has never really had cross over appeal to casuals, seems like a big number of boxing die hards watched….and luckily because Joe Smith Jr. just might be a future star in the sport…..2 straight fights of dominant knockouts against people who were supposed to beat him. The kid has BIG power in that right hand and he looks for the KO each time.