Boxing: PBC Debut on Fox Averages 2.5 Million Viewers

Premier Boxing Champions brought boxing back to primetime on Fox last weekend and by all accounts, the night was a monumental success for the Sweet Science. After a 20-year absence on the network, the evening of fistic fireworks wound up being PBC’s best viewing audience since April 2015.

Headlined by a welterweight championship bout between unbeaten Danny Garcia and grizzled veteran Robert Guerrero, PBC on Fox averaged a 1.5/3 household rating with 2.5 million viewers from 8:00-10:37 p.m. ET, according to Nielson. The tallies are a 36 percent increase in rating and 39 percent increase in audience compared to PBC’s last primetime telecast, which was the entertaining 12-round brawl between Antonio DeMarco and Omar Figueroa Jr. in December.

The telecast garnered its highest viewing spike during the main event, which was won by “Swift” Garcia via unanimous decision. During that time, the event brought in a 1.8/3 rating with 3 million viewers.

The ratings for the undercard battles were solid as well. The first bout between heavyweight sluggers Dominic Breazeale and Amir Mansour delivered a 1.3/2 with 2.2 million viewers while the co-main between welterweights Sammy Vasquez and Aron Martinez enjoyed a 1.4/2 rating with 2.2 million viewers. Both of those contests ended via TKO.

According to Fox and PBC, the Garcia-Guerrero battle ranks as the most-watched PBC event on any network since April 11, 2015 on NBC, which saw Garcia edge Lamont Peterson over 12 rounds. It also tied PBC’s highest-rated event among adults 18-49 since its broadcast premiere last March and during its peak on Saturday, the numbers tied the second-highest peak audience for a PBC event ever. Also, an estimated 6.2 million viewers watched all or part of the fight card.