Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Draws Highest Boxing After Dark Number Since 2007
by Scott Christ on Jun 8, 2011 3:30 PM EDT
in Boxing TV Ratings
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Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports that the HBO numbers are in for Saturday night's fight between Sebastian Zbik and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, and the fight set a high mark for Boxing After Dark ratings in the last four years.
1.5 million viewers tuned in to see the young Chavez win his first trinket against Zbik, and that number has to be seen as part boxing audience, and other than that, pretty much all Chavez. Zbik has no name in America, and the co-feature between Mikey Garcia and Rafael Guzman was more or less a non-event, as Garcia is still a building prospect/contender and Guzman was a late sub.
The number doesn't at all surprise me. When people wondered why Chavez was picked up by HBO, this was what we said was the obvious reason. His fanbase is enormous, dedicated, and enthusiastic. They've paid hard earned cash dollars to watch him fight lesser opponents than Zbik, and his HBO debut was an event for many. He's going to draw viewers, period.
Compared to would-be Mexican boxing rival Saul Alvarez, Chavez is looking like a strong TV attraction in the States right now. Both do big numbers in Mexico, but this fight for Chavez pretty well dwarfed the numbers Alvarez did in March with Matthew Hatton, which was reported as 1.4 million live viewers, but was actually about 920,000. We'll see if this number was fluffed, too, but the 1.5 mil for Chavez is honestly only a hair more than I expected it would be. The name value has transferred from father to son, even if the overall skills package has not.
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Ziggy Marley had some jams too, Scott. =P
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
That wasn’t the worst comparison, actually. Maybe he can turn into Damian Marley, who I actually like pretty well.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Given that I’m using a Bounty Killer avatar I think I’m required to just leave this here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOs4iT_I9eU
Produced by Stephen Marley as well, who is not in fact Omar Chavez, thankfully.
by Brendan Welsh-Balliett on Jun 8, 2011 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions
It should also be a loss for Chavez. I don’t think he can beat any Cotto at all.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
Jr. WILL K’O Cotto, he will walk through Cotto’s punches like Margarito without the Plaster. LOL
by rgb on Jun 8, 2011 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Sad,
that
number: Highest since ’07. Geez.
But as Scott stated…………not surprising. The Mexican fan-base is very strong and loyal………not just in relation to Chavez, but boxing in general.
I know Marquez started off as a technician and some would say was a bit of a boring counterpuncher at first, but he’s been in some of the most entertaining fights of the last decade against Pac, J Diaz, J Casamayor, M Katsidis, etc.
And i bet he doesn’t draw the unproven Chavez’s no’s.
I know, Junior has an icon for a father, but the Mexican fans seemed to get behind Morales and Barrera more too, imo. Even Margarito.
Maybe they were just never all that sold on Marquez style for some reason, even when he became more exciting?
And i bet he doesn’t draw the unproven Chavez’s no’s.
He doesn’t — the fight with Katsidis did 998K on 11/27, paired with the last Berto mismatch and the Caballero vs Litzau fight. To be fair they were up against a good SHO card that night, too, but they didn’t like 500K to that.
Marquez is just not a big A-side fighter. Very good B-side guy against major opponents. Whatever it is, Marquez just never became one of the Mexican superstar guys. I think being in the shadow of Morales and Barrera is part of it, and then once he was out of their shadow, it was a case of the fanbase just never having quite gravitated toward him. Plus Morales and Barrera were at their peaks of popularity at a time when, quite frankly, HBO was doing much bigger numbers. For instance, Barrera vs Pacquiao I in 2003, when Pacquiao was nowhere near the huge star he is now, did 3.16 million viewers on HBO. Lewis vs Klitschko on HBO that year did 7.063 million. It’s nice that HBO is delivering what are some nice ratings for the current climate right now, as I’ve said before, but they’re still way, way, way lower than they used to be.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
excuse me
7.036 mil for Lewis vs Klitschko.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Interesting
So, the Chavez record is the highest of all non PPV HBO boxing in the last four years, compared to 7+m for Lewis vs Vitali?
Thats a huge drop off, if so. I didn’t realise it was that bad (no pun intended).
I just remembered there’s B.A.D and World Championship Boxing on HBO.
If the Chavez figures sre a high for B.A.D, do you know what the high is for the last four years of WCB?
I’ve got most numbers back through 2009 and the highest since then is Kiltschko vs Arreola at 2.024 mil. Margarito vs Mosley did 1.9 mil, and the recent Pascal vs Hopkins rematch did 1.8, which is the highest since Klitschko vs Arreola.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
and btw
The fight that this is the “highest since” was Malignaggi vs N’dou.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Wow. So the lot of them tuned out forever after watching Paulie? Not surprised. Lol
by erasedcitizen on Jun 8, 2011 8:44 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Don't underestimate the New York audience.
Or the ability of a native Brooklyn boy with a little bit of flash to draw some eyes. Paulie may not have highlight reel knockouts, but he’s for the most part entertaining in the ring and much more so than some out.
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