Showtime’s boxing viewership took a bit of a dive compared to their previous boxing telecast.
The May 19 Showtime Championship Boxing card, a rare split-site telecast featuring two world title fights, averaged 535,000 viewers for the main event. The headline attraction, a WBC light heavyweight title fight between Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack, peaked at 611,000 viewers, which is significantly lower than the April 21 Showtime main event in both peak and average viewership. The April 21 main event, Adrien Broner vs. Jessie Vargas, peaked at 891,000 viewers and averaged 782,000 viewers.
Stevenson and Jack fought to a majority draw in the May 19 main event which took place in Toronto. Due to the draw, Stevenson gets to retain his WBC title.
The other world title fight, Gary Russell Jr. vs. Joseph Diaz taking place in Maryland, reached a peak audience of 567,000 viewers. The average viewership for that fight, which saw Russell defeat Diaz by unanimous decision, was approximately 487,000 viewers. The start of the telecast had to compete with Game 3 of the NBA's Eestern Conference Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, which averaged 6.827 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.
Showtime's next boxing telecast will be Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares for the WBA featherweight title and it will take place on June 9 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The co-main event of that card is Jermell Charlo vs. Austin Trout for the WBC junior middleweight title.
