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Miguel Cotto’s farewell fight did a strong rating for HBO, as according to Nielsen Media Research, the Saturday night HBO World Championship Boxing main event averaged 944,000 viewers, and peaked at 1.012 million.
This is the second-best number for a live boxing main event on premium cable in the United States in 2017.
Cotto, who has reportedly retired at age 37, lost his WBO junior middleweight title in an upset to Sadam Ali, via 12-round decision. Cotto also suffered a biceps injury in the fight, and retired — at least for now — with a career record of 41-6 (33 KO).
Over his career, Cotto has been a rock solid performer for HBO, where the bulk of his relevant career has been aired, either through HBO itself or their pay-per-view arm. This final fight certainly didn’t do his best number on the network, but it’s a strong showing as he bows out of the sport nonetheless.
The co-feature bout, which saw Rey Vargas retain his WBC super bantamweight title over Oscar Negrete, averaged 697,000 viewers, and peaked at 788,000.