The June 18 installment of the series—which aired five fights over the course of the three-hour telecast—averaged 305,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The show peaked at 382,000 viewers, coming at the 10:00pm ET hour for the evening’s makeshift headliner which saw Gabe Flores Jr. (17-0, 6KOs) earn a 10-round shutout decision over Miami-based Nicaraguan lightweight Josec Diaz (21-3-3, 14KOs) live from MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Thursday’s show—which went on air at 8:00pm ET—was down nearly 15% from a similarly slotted event on Tuesday, in which a six-fight card topped by “Magic” Mike Plania’s upset win over bantamweight contender Joshua Greer averaged 350,000 viewers as a whole. That show peaked at 503,000 viewers during the main event.
Four fight cards have aired on ESPN since returning on June 9. None of the shows have yet to crack 400,000 viewers, although more telling of fewer people as a whole watching the network on weeknights. ESPN’s boxing coverage has remained its best-performing events each night it has aired.
As much was the case on Thursday evening, with a 7:00 pm ET edition of SportsCenter Prime averaged just 157,000 viewers as the lead-in to the Top Rank card. Viewership dipped once the fighting ceased, as the trailing 11:00 pm ET of SportsCenter averaged 164,000 viewers.
By Jake Donovan
