Kovalev vs Caparello, Rios vs Chaves fights around 1MM viewers on HBO

Last weekend's HBO Boxing After Dark delivered about the numbers you'd expect for its main two matchups, with Sergey Kovalev and Brandon Rios delivering wins in much different fashion, and Kovalev setting up a much bigger fight for November.

Kovalev will move on to face Bernard Hopkins after trouncing Blake Caparello in the second round. The fight averaged 990,000 viewers for the live, first-time airing, with a peak audience of 1,052,000. Hopkins, who has generally been a strong TV draw in recent years, while a pay-per-view dud, should help Kovalev deliver his biggest audience to date in November, which will be extra incentive for Kovalev to impress and knock off a legend.

Rios and Diego Chaves delivered an average of 936,000 for their fight, which went last on the broadcast, following Kovalev-Caparello. The peak for their bout was 1,003,000.

The night's opening fight saw Jessie Vargas beat Anton Novikov via decision. The peak was 839,000 viewers for that fight, with an average of 728,000.