BoxRec

Claressa Shields’ domination of Ivana Habazin drew lower viewership than her prior appearance on Showtime.

Nielsen Media Research revealed Tuesday that a peak audience of 288,000 watched Showtime’s telecast of the Shields-Habazin fight Friday night from Atlantic City, New Jersey. The average viewership for their 10-round, 154-pound championship match was 255,000.

The peak and average viewership figures for Shields’ previous fight on Showtime, an easy victory over Germany’s Christina Hammer in a 10-round, 160-pound title bout April 13 in Atlantic City, were 369,000 and 339,000, respectively. The Shields-Hammer match was a more significant middleweight title unification fight and aired on a Saturday night, when viewership for boxing broadcasts typically is higher than on Friday nights.

Shields has helped draw more than 400,000 viewers for one of her fights since Showtime began broadcasting her bouts in 2017.

Her 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Hanna Gabriels was viewed by a peak audience of 410,000 and an average audience of 376,000 in June 2018, also on a Friday night. Shields survived a first-round knockdown against Gabriels and won by scores of 98-91, 97-92 and 97-92 at Masonic Temple in Detroit.

Showtime’s entire three-bout broadcast Friday night averaged 195,000 viewers from Ocean Resort Casino’s Ovation Hall. The peak number and average audiences from Friday’s “Showtime Boxing: Special Edition” tripleheader were higher than that of the 2019 peak and average audiences for Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” series, which usually airs on Friday nights.

Source

Her numbers seem to be decreasing.

I bet they thought it would do better numbers what with all the rescheduling and the bullshit that happened at pressers and weigh in.

A near 300k isn’t bad for a woman’s fight I guess.

She thinks she should be on PPV? Haha

Shields would be a VERY GOOD co-main eventer..

I’m no expert but those numbers don’t sound very good.

Just shows America's RACISM and SEXISM to not support an amazing young black woman in large numbers


My impression of Shields' supporters based on Twitter

Riddick Blowe wrote: ↑14 Jan 2020, 19:23 I’m no expert but those numbers don’t sound very good.

Judging by HER previous fights, it’s gone down. Had they increased at least that’s a positive. But there is non here.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑14 Jan 2020, 18:08 Her numbers seem to be decreasing.

I bet they thought it would do better numbers what with all the rescheduling and the bullshit that happened at pressers and weigh in.

A near 300k isn’t bad for a woman’s fight I guess.

She thinks she should be on PPV? Haha

All Showtime numbers are decreasing.

Clarissa’s latest bout was televised on a Friday night, whereas all of the others you guys are comparing the viewing figures to were broadcast on Saturday’s.

We’d need to see Shields facing another Christina Hammer type opponent on a Saturday night in order to really gauge whether her popularity is on the decline or not, since Ivana Habazin wasn’t a marquee name.

Like it or not Claressa is probably not going to become a mainstream star.
She's going to have a hall of fame career and with the right opponents may draw some attention to women's boxing for a bit but that's about it.
She doesn't have a personality that demands attention which draws media and fans to her and the sport.
Claressa's personality is more likely to have the opposite affect.
She wasn't born with a famous last name, she doesn't fight on Tyson undercards, she's not a model and her most recent promotion was engulfed in stupidity.
As it relates to mainstream attention and fame I don't think she has reached her pinnacle yet but she is very close.

One thing that probably didnt' help this, I personally didn't even know it had been rescheduled after the whole fiasco at the weigh in about a month or two prior. I didn't know Shields was fighting that day until about an hour before the card started. So piss poor advertisement didn't help the numbers. Even on the forums, and corners of internet Boxing I didn't see anybody discussing this having been rescheduled.

She's a good fighter, there's just really nobody for her to fight. The only real big fight left for her in Boxing is if she can get Braekhus to come up to 154 for a big fight.

Other than that she might as well try MMA like she's talking about because it'd take a year or two before another girl could possibly build herself up to be seen as a credible opponent.

At least she knocked Habazin down with a body shot. That's the first knockdown I recall seeing her get.

Perseus wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 09:14 Like it or not Claressa is probably not going to become a mainstream star.
She's going to have a hall of fame career and with the right opponents may draw some attention to women's boxing for a bit but that's about it.
She doesn't have a personality that demands attention which draws media and fans to her and the sport.
Claressa's personality is more likely to have the opposite affect.
She wasn't born with a famous last name, she doesn't fight on Tyson undercards, she's not a model and her most recent promotion was engulfed in stupidity.
As it relates to mainstream attention and fame I don't think she has reached her pinnacle yet but she is very close.

She'll get as famous as she's gonna get when she fights in the UFC too I'd imagine. Assuming she does that, which given her age is probably a safe assumption.

Because then at least MMA and Boxing fans would be aware of her. She still won't be all that big a draw I wouldn't imagine, but that'll be her best bet of getting more notoriety.

Enlightened-One wrote: ↑15 Jan 2020, 04:44 Clarissa’s latest bout was televised on a Friday night, whereas all of the others you guys are comparing the viewing figures to were broadcast on Saturday’s.

We’d need to see Shields facing another Christina Hammer type opponent on a Saturday night in order to really gauge whether her popularity is on the decline or not, since Ivana Habazin wasn’t a marquee name.

Shields isn't a Marquee name. There are no Marquee name Women Boxers. Shields and Braekhus are as close as it gets, and Braekhus is basically only famous in Europe. Hell she's about to set the record for most title defenses ever made by a Boxer Male or Female, and nobody has ever heard of her.

That says it all about the importance of Women's Boxing. Or lack thereof.

The sad truth is there ain't no famous Women in the UFC right now either really. You have to have some kinda sex appeal to go along with your ability as a Female Athlete to get popular. That's just the way it is.

It helps with Men too, but it's absolutely necessary for a Woman. I'm not saying it's fair, but that's definitely the way it is. Name any Female athlete ever that was famous that was unattractive. (even if they're not your cup of tea, fact is they were sold on Calendars, and presented as Sex objects more than Heroic athletes)

It also didn't help that in my lifetime the one Women's Boxing match that might've actually been kinda big Laila Ali vs Anne Wolfe didn't happen because Laila would rather stand in front of a TV camera and smile rather than prove herself as the greatest female fighter of her era. So....yeah.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 15:53 One thing that probably didnt' help this, I personally didn't even know it had been rescheduled after the whole fiasco at the weigh in about a month or two prior. I didn't know Shields was fighting that day until about an hour before the card started. So piss poor advertisement didn't help the numbers. Even on the forums, and corners of internet Boxing I didn't see anybody discussing this having been rescheduled.

She's a good fighter, there's just really nobody for her to fight. The only real big fight left for her in Boxing is if she can get Braekhus to come up to 154 for a big fight.

Other than that she might as well try MMA like she's talking about because it'd take a year or two before another girl could possibly build herself up to be seen as a credible opponent.

At least she knocked Habazin down with a body shot. That's the first knockdown I recall seeing her get.

The thread was the top of the list at least 2-3 days before the fight.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 16:17

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 15:53 One thing that probably didnt' help this, I personally didn't even know it had been rescheduled after the whole fiasco at the weigh in about a month or two prior. I didn't know Shields was fighting that day until about an hour before the card started. So piss poor advertisement didn't help the numbers. Even on the forums, and corners of internet Boxing I didn't see anybody discussing this having been rescheduled.

She's a good fighter, there's just really nobody for her to fight. The only real big fight left for her in Boxing is if she can get Braekhus to come up to 154 for a big fight.

Other than that she might as well try MMA like she's talking about because it'd take a year or two before another girl could possibly build herself up to be seen as a credible opponent.

At least she knocked Habazin down with a body shot. That's the first knockdown I recall seeing her get.

The thread was the top of the list at least 2-3 days before the fight.

What list?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 15:55

Perseus wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 09:14 Like it or not Claressa is probably not going to become a mainstream star.
She's going to have a hall of fame career and with the right opponents may draw some attention to women's boxing for a bit but that's about it.
She doesn't have a personality that demands attention which draws media and fans to her and the sport.
Claressa's personality is more likely to have the opposite affect.
She wasn't born with a famous last name, she doesn't fight on Tyson undercards, she's not a model and her most recent promotion was engulfed in stupidity.
As it relates to mainstream attention and fame I don't think she has reached her pinnacle yet but she is very close.

She'll get as famous as she's gonna get when she fights in the UFC too I'd imagine. Assuming she does that, which given her age is probably a safe assumption.

Because then at least MMA and Boxing fans would be aware of her. She still won't be all that big a draw I wouldn't imagine, but that'll be her best bet of getting more notoriety.

Yep and if she does well in MMA it does nothing for women's boxing.
If Claressa goes the MMA route and is successful she will be done with boxing.
By successful I mean becoming a UFC contract fighter and as long as Dana is running the show her contract will forbid participating in boxing while signed to the UFC.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 16:25

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 16:17

The thread was the top of the list at least 2-3 days before the fight.

What list?

On the first page of the current scene I meant. I kept posting on the thread days before. The final presser, weigh in. No way you could have missed the thread at least.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 18:08

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 16:25

What list?

On the first page of the current scene I meant. I kept posting on the thread days before. The final presser, weigh in. No way you could have missed the thread at least.

Must've just skimmed over it. I wasn't even aware of this section of the forum until today

Perseus wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 17:45

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 15:55

She'll get as famous as she's gonna get when she fights in the UFC too I'd imagine. Assuming she does that, which given her age is probably a safe assumption.

Because then at least MMA and Boxing fans would be aware of her. She still won't be all that big a draw I wouldn't imagine, but that'll be her best bet of getting more notoriety.

Yep and if she does well in MMA it does nothing for women's boxing.
If Claressa goes the MMA route and is successful she will be done with boxing.
By successful I mean becoming a UFC contract fighter and as long as Dana is running the show her contract will forbid participating in boxing while signed to the UFC.

I can't imagine she'd be able to be as dominant as an MMA fighter as she has been as a Boxer. I kinda doubt she'd be signing any long term contracts in MMA as I would imagine she'd always want Boxing to fall back on. We'll see what happens in time.

All of that would have applied to Holly too.
How much boxing did she do once her MMA career got moving?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 21:24

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Jan 2020, 18:08

On the first page of the current scene I meant. I kept posting on the thread days before. The final presser, weigh in. No way you could have missed the thread at least.

Must've just skimmed over it. I wasn't even aware of this section of the forum until today

The thread only got moved into this section yesterday. It was in the CS before that.

Perseus wrote: ↑19 Jan 2020, 09:02 All of that would have applied to Holly too.
How much boxing did she do once her MMA career got moving?

None, but at the same time Holly never got hardly any attention whatsoever as a boxer. Her biggest wins in Boxing were fought in Europe I think, and there was virtually no coverage of them here in the U.S.

I remember reading about her fights with Anne Sophie Mathis in Ring Magazine. That's about it.

Claressa being the 2x Gold Medalist gets more exposure than most Women fighters do.

Holly has done well enough in MMA to be far better off there than as boxer

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑19 Jan 2020, 13:00 Holly has done well enough in MMA to be far better off there than as boxer

Well yeah because she had a star to fight against, and she beat her.

In Boxing she had no opponents that anybody ever heard of or cared about.

I doubt Clarissa would do as well as Holm, Holm had kickboxing training long before and had worked with a top MMA coach for a while? How many boxers can transition to MMA and immediately throw one of the best head kicks in the sport? Clarissa I' think would be more likely to have to come back to boxing

Who is there to fight that heavy as well ?

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑19 Jan 2020, 13:07 I doubt Clarissa would do as well as Holm, Holm had kickboxing training long before and had worked with a top MMA coach for a while? How many boxers can transition to MMA and immediately throw one of the best head kicks in the sport? Clarissa I' think would be more likely to have to come back to boxing

Who is there to fight that heavy as well ?

It's Women's sports, not Men's. The fact that she can punch at a World Class level means she's probably automatically better than 70% of Women MMA fighters right there.

But will be able to be better than the Elite ones? That's the question Jimmy.

Her fight would have to be with Cyborg I'd imagine. Don't know who else is her size. Holm fights at 145 right?