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Last Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing event did solid numbers for the network, with the main event between Sadam Ali and Jaime Munguia averaging 711,000 and peaking at 779,000, which is not bad considering few knew Munguia coming in and it was Ali’s first show as an A-side main event for HBO.
The co-feature between Rey Vargas and Azat Hovhannisyan averaged 619,000 viewers, peaking at 740,000.
Munguia, 21, improved to 29-0 (25 KO) and lifted the WBO junior middleweight title from Ali (26-2, 14 KO) via fourth round TKO. It was a true breakthrough win for Munguia, a well-hyped prospect out of Mexico who was simply too big and strong for Ali, who defeated and retired Miguel Cotto last December on HBO.
Vargas (32-0, 22 KO) retained his WBC super bantamweight title in the co-feature, outpointing Hovhannisyan (14-3, 11 KO) over 12 rounds, and making his case to be considered the top fighter in the 122-pound division today.