Mikaela Mayer attracted over 800K Viewers

[Ruthless-RKO]

It was evident in her most recent ring appearance, scoring a unanimous decision over Argentina’s Lizbeth Crespo in a bout that featured a number of firsts for the 2016 U.S. Olympian. Her fight came in supporting capacity to Tyson Fury’s heavily promoted Las Vegas debut. The attention from his headlining act—which streamed live on ESPN+—trickled down to her own televised headliner atop the ESPN2 lead-in telecast, which peaked at more than 800,000 viewers for her latest win.

“We knew there was extra attention being paid to this event, but I had no idea how many people would watch my fight,” Mayer (11-0, 4KOs) told BS.com of her latest win, which marked her own Vegas debut and first scheduled 10-rounder and first time as a televised headliner. “I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way my career is progressing.”

The three-hour telecast as a whole averaged 493,000 viewers, a strong number for ESPN2 who would be pleased with such ratings back when it regularly ran the now-defunct Friday Night Fights series. A steady increase in viewership came of the evening, which meant more attention paid to a gripping pre-fight segment conducted by ESPN’s multiple award-winning journalist Mark Kriegel on Mayer’s troubled past and what led her to a boxing gym.

Given the amount of attention paid to this card, it felt like the right time to tell the tale.

“We know there was a growing interest in Mikaela,” George Ruiz, Mayer’s manager told BS.com. “The lead-in telecast ran that piece that showed her background, which we discussed for a while when the best time would be to tell her story. There was great press for the event, it was perfect storm.”

[Cyclops]

I’m all for women’s boxing so I won’t put the boot in but it wasn’t the most amazing fight i’ve ever seen. Like everything that night she was hyped and flogged so hard, but she seemed quite stiff and upright and lacking power. Nice story, though.