Top Rank Boxing on ESPN drew 1.35 million viewers per Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily. The event featured the title defense of Terrence Crawford.
Crawford faced Egidijus Kavaliauskas in a mandatory title defense of his WBO welterweight title. The event drew 0.43 in the Adults 18-49 demo and 0.66 among Males in the A18-49 demo. It drew 0.50 in the adults from 25-54 and 0.63 in adults over 50. Top Rank Boxing’s over 2 hours on ESPN drew third overall in cable viewership on Saturday night.
In comparison the UFC PPV Prelims on ESPN 2 drew 865,000 viewers and drew 0.34 in the A18-49, 0.52 in the Males 18-49, 0.38 in A25-54 and 0.31 in adults over 50.
Also on the Top Rank card was Teofimo Lopez and Richard Comney in which the 22-year-old Lopez stopped the previous IBF lightweight champion in the second round. Lopez now gets a huge fight against Vasyl Lomachenko.
Payout Perspective:
The Heisman Trophy Presentation on ESPN served as a lead-in for the event as it drew 2.542 million viewers in the 65 minutes prior to the boxing. The Heisman Trophy was the top-ranked telecast on cable on Saturday. The ratings are impressive for Top Rank and establish the fact that Terrence Crawford is gaining traction as a fighter to watch. Can he find a comparable opponent? Also, Lopez showed that he is a young, boxer to watch and his showdown with Lomachenko for Spring 2020 should be one that will attract a lot of fight fans.
Even though the UFC and Top Rank were held at about the same time, ESPN aired both properties. Notably, during the Crawford fight, the announcers promoted the UFC event noting that they would be able to catch the main event at the conclusion of the Crawford fight.
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