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With an average of 972,000 viewers and a peak of 1.1 million, last Saturday's Showtime Championship Boxing broadcast headlined by Danny Garcia and Mauricio Herrera saw Garcia's viewership raise by 26% compared to his April 2013 bout with Zab Judah, Garcia's last appearance on Showtime.
Some of the credit is surely due to viewers tuning in to see the Canelo-Angulo replay from the prior weekend's Showtime pay-per-view, but Garcia is certainly a bigger name now than he was a year ago, and the Showtime brand is bigger than it was a year ago, too, following a big 2013.
Garcia (28-0, 16 KO) escaped with a contentious majority decision over Herrera (20-4, 7 KO) in his first fight in Puerto Rico. Richard Schaefer has said they do plan to return to the island with Garcia in the future, as they were happy with the attendance and reaction.
Garcia is a hot name for a potential Floyd Mayweather fight either later this year or in 2015, and the strong TV numbers should do nothing but help his cause.
Garcia-Herrera, Wilder-Scott, and the Canelo-Angulo replay will air again tonight at 10 p.m. EDT on Showtime Extreme.