According to the Nielsen overnights, last night’s Keith Thurman vs Danny Garcia fight did a 2.2 rating from 9 pm-11:15 pm ET, up 22% over the last time CBS had boxing in prime time in June 2016 (Thurman-Porter).
More data will be available in the coming days, including viewership numbers, but this is already good news, and not that surprising, really. Just like the announced sellout at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, it simply goes to show that when the fightmakers make a good fight, fans will show up.
Thurman (28-0, 22 KO) unified the WBA and WBC welterweight titles with a split decision win over Garcia (33-1, 19 KO) in the main event. To co-feature saw top junior middleweight prospect Erickson Lubin (18-0, 13 KO) take care of Jorge Cota (25-2, 22 KO) with a fourth round highlight reel TKO. On the non-televised undercard, Andrzej Fonfara (29-4, 17 KO) stopped Chad Dawson (34-5, 19 KO) in the 10th round.