A sizable audience watched women's boxing superstar Claressa Shields latest win over Hanna Gabriels, becoming a two-weight champion in the process.
Shields' unanimous decision win over Gabriels to take home the WBA and IBF women's middleweight titles averaged 376,000 viewers on the June 22 Showtime telecast, peaking at 410,000 viewers.
The numbers are a positive sign for Shields' potential next fight against fellow unified champion Christina Hammer, who also successfully retained her title against Tori Nelson in the co-main event bout of that broadcast. Although it was on a different timeslot, viewership for the live airing of the June 22 fight were actually higher than the viewership for the live airing of Anthony Joshua's win over Joseph Parker to unify the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles back in March.
After getting knocked down for the first time in her professional career in the first round, Shields bounced back and dominated Gabriels, winning almost every round for the remainder of the fight. Shields wins two world titles at middleweight after holding the unified WBC and IBF super middleweight titles since 2017.
Viewership for the fight also showed Shields' rapid growth as not just a draw in women's boxing, but in boxing as a whole. Shields' previous fight on Showtime, a unanimous decision win over Nelson back in January, drew an average audience of 320,000. Shields’ Showtime debut, a fourth-round stoppage of Szilvia Szabados last year at the MGM Grand in Detroit, averaged 241,000 viewers.
