Pay-cable giant Showtime came out swinging to begin its 2015 boxing season, with its January 17 tripleheader topped by Deontay Wilder’s impressive boxing display in dethroning heavyweight titlist Bermane Stiverne over 12 rounds.
The main event—which aired live from MGM Grand in Las Vegas—was a hit with boxing audiences, drawing in 1.24 million viewers for the 2015 season premiere of Showtime Championship Boxing. The fight peaked in 1.34 million viewers.
In fact, all three bouts landed in the Top 20 of the most watched fights on Showtime since 2004, when Nielsen began tracking ratings on Showtime’s flagship station separate from its affiliate networks.
Wilder-Stiverne becomes Showtime’s most watched bout since Austin Trout’s upset win over Miguel Cotto in Dec. ’12, and the fourth-most viewed Showtime fight since 2004. It also recorded the highest rating share of any fight on any network—including HBO—in more than a year, drawing a 3.2 share on the night.
The pair of heavyweights appeared in their first Showtime-televised main event. Wilder has appeared on several past undercards on Showtime’s flagship station—beginning with a 3rd round knockout of previously unbeaten Kelvin Price in the opening bout of a Dec. ’12 show—as well as its sister network SHO Extreme.
Stiverne had never previously appeared on Showtime, the closest coming on the non-televised undercard of Don King’s first Shobox promotion in March ’07. His lone bout on pay-cable came in his first fight with Chris Arreola, scoring a landslide 12-round decision in their April ’13 heavyweight title eliminator on HBO, which played to only 747,000 homes.
Their rematch came last May with the vacant heavyweight title on the line. Stiverne scored a 6th round knockout to become the first-ever fighter from Haiti to win a heavyweight belt, in a bout that served as the headliner of a rare Saturday night boxing special on ESPN. The show drew just shy of 1 million viewers on a network available in nearly 100 million homes.
Wilder-Stiverne not only far eclipsed that total, but doing so with Showtime boasting a pay-subscription base of less than 25% of those with access to ESPN, a basic cable network.
http://www.boxingscene.com/wilder-stiverne-triple-smash-hit-showtime-ratings--86579
The main event—which aired live from MGM Grand in Las Vegas—was a hit with boxing audiences, drawing in 1.24 million viewers for the 2015 season premiere of Showtime Championship Boxing. The fight peaked in 1.34 million viewers.
In fact, all three bouts landed in the Top 20 of the most watched fights on Showtime since 2004, when Nielsen began tracking ratings on Showtime’s flagship station separate from its affiliate networks.
Wilder-Stiverne becomes Showtime’s most watched bout since Austin Trout’s upset win over Miguel Cotto in Dec. ’12, and the fourth-most viewed Showtime fight since 2004. It also recorded the highest rating share of any fight on any network—including HBO—in more than a year, drawing a 3.2 share on the night.
The pair of heavyweights appeared in their first Showtime-televised main event. Wilder has appeared on several past undercards on Showtime’s flagship station—beginning with a 3rd round knockout of previously unbeaten Kelvin Price in the opening bout of a Dec. ’12 show—as well as its sister network SHO Extreme.
Stiverne had never previously appeared on Showtime, the closest coming on the non-televised undercard of Don King’s first Shobox promotion in March ’07. His lone bout on pay-cable came in his first fight with Chris Arreola, scoring a landslide 12-round decision in their April ’13 heavyweight title eliminator on HBO, which played to only 747,000 homes.
Their rematch came last May with the vacant heavyweight title on the line. Stiverne scored a 6th round knockout to become the first-ever fighter from Haiti to win a heavyweight belt, in a bout that served as the headliner of a rare Saturday night boxing special on ESPN. The show drew just shy of 1 million viewers on a network available in nearly 100 million homes.
Wilder-Stiverne not only far eclipsed that total, but doing so with Showtime boasting a pay-subscription base of less than 25% of those with access to ESPN, a basic cable network.
http://www.boxingscene.com/wilder-stiverne-triple-smash-hit-showtime-ratings--86579
now that nikka just babbles about "catch and shoot" and low key hate, nikka hasn't been the same since Porter. 
@ Wlad throwing a lead left hook against Wilder...he can take chances like that against a feather fisted Pulev (who wobbled him with a jab btw) and a part-time truck driver like Alex Lepai...but in reality it's gonna be a whole alot of this for the 1st few rds
