BoxRec

Boxxer Press Release

• Viewing averaged at 585k throughout the night with a peak of 1.05m
• Figures far surpass previous record of Joshua v Cornish in 2015 and Khan v Vargas in 2018
• Eubank victory the first fight in a busy month of boxing on Sky Sports Boxing with Khan v Brook and Taylor v Catterall still to come
• Fight Night also saw Claressa Shields successfully defend her IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles

The first fight in a blockbuster month of boxing on Sky Sports Boxing, Eubank Jr put on the best performance of his career to date, as he won by unanimous decision in Williams’ home city of Cardiff.

The average audience surpassed both Anthony Joshua’s 2015 bout with Gary Cornish as well as the fight between Amir Khan v Samuel Vargas in 2018, and Saturday’s fight – the first in partnership with BOXXER in 2022 – didn’t disappoint as the Roy Jones Jr-trained Eubank Jr knocked down his opponent four times to bring an end to the fighters’ bitter rivalry.

Sky Sports Boxing fans how have another rivalry to look forward to as Amir Khan takes on Kell Brook live on Sky Sports Box Office on the 19th March in Manchester, before an Undisputed World Super-Lightweight Title clash between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall in Glasgow.

Sky Sports Head of Boxing Development Adam Smith said: “Over 1 million people watched our big Sky Sports Fight Night in Cardiff – with more big fights to come this month. Our audience is growing, and we couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come “

BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom added: “BOXXER and Sky are committed to growing the sport and making boxing accessible. We believe in the potential of the sport to grow further. We’re working hard with Sky Sports to produce Fight Nights that give huge value to our core boxing audience whilst attracting new audiences.”

Upcoming Schedule on Sky Sports:

Saturday 19th February – Amir Khan v Kell Brook at Manchester Arena
Saturday 26th February – Josh Taylor v Jack Catterall at The SSE Hydro, Glasgow

I wonder if the average/peak includes viewers from Sky Showcase which is available to all the 22m subscribers.

And going by mates, five times that on the firestick.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:44 I wonder if the average/peak includes viewers from Sky Showcase which is available to all the 22m subscribers.

It will. Good figures those.

GWOAT brought those numbers in, Eubank just piggybacked off her

589555 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:56

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:44 I wonder if the average/peak includes viewers from Sky Showcase which is available to all the 22m subscribers.

It will. Good figures those.

Yep.

Sky have done a great job in making boxing more accessible since Matchroom left.

maverick23 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 07:01

589555 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:56

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:44 I wonder if the average/peak includes viewers from Sky Showcase which is available to all the 22m subscribers.

It will. Good figures those.

Yep.

Sky have done a great job in making boxing more accessible since Matchroom left.

You reckon it was ever pitched back then? Whether Sky wanted to do it on Showcase or if Matchroom wanted it on there? If one declined?

I know they used Sky Sports Mix a few times, like the card headlined by Katie Taylor, the more recent was actually on YouTube. I remember a Daniel Jacobs fight on Mix, but that was after hours anyway.

It seems like Sky are able to breath more since Matchroom left.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 07:00 GWOAT brought those numbers in, Eubank just piggybacked off her

It probably peaked when Shields and Sav had their little b!tch slap argument..

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 07:21

maverick23 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 07:01

589555 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:56

It will. Good figures those.

Yep.

Sky have done a great job in making boxing more accessible since Matchroom left.

You reckon it was ever pitched back then? Whether Sky wanted to do it on Showcase or if Matchroom wanted it on there? If one declined?

I know they used Sky Sports Mix a few times, like the card headlined by Katie Taylor, the more recent was actually on YouTube. I remember a Daniel Jacobs fight on Mix, but that was after hours anyway.

It seems like Sky are able to breath more since Matchroom left.

I think Sky just realise they need to do more to promote the shows and the sport itself. Everything used to be led by Eddie and perhaps Sky stepped back a little bit. Now they have to push as Shalom is, at the moment at least, in the background and is seemingly more of a matchmaker. You watch the press conferences and it’s mainly Adam Smith running things and he’s spending more time with the boxing YouTube channels.

Good, can only mean more shows and bigger fights going forward. Wonder how many will be watching on DAZN this Saturday in comparison ?

mickey1975 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:50 And going by mates, five times that on the firestick.

Nah you’ve just got shadier mates than most people

CaptainSpacerod wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 08:34

mickey1975 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 06:50 And going by mates, five times that on the firestick.

Nah you’ve just got shadier mates than most people

I'm actually underestimating that. And most are very normal.

Once you go up the only way is down ,,, Eddies gonna think wht have i done

I watched it on showcase through Virgin, wouldn't have bothered else. I don't pay for Sky and I suspect making it effectively free for most people to watch has resulted in the viewing figures.

This is very much a one off. They do it with F1 now and again, throw a bone and all that.

As soon as Eubank v Williams was proposed it got people excited because it was seen as a real 50/50 fight.

Added to it being a non PPV .. which people could easily get at a reasonable cost; or FOC if they signed up to the 7-day trial. This what generated the big viewer numbers.

I don`t believe for a second Eubank is the factor of the big audience .. no doubt Adam Smith will claim GWOAT was an influence though.

The Khan v Brook PPV numbers wont be anything as high

Ive spoke to loads of people who watched the card or at least the Eubank fight, as Ruthless mentioned sky showcase showing it on Freeview played it's part

Twinkle Toes wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 10:08 I watched it on showcase through Virgin, wouldn't have bothered else. I don't pay for Sky and I suspect making it effectively free for most people to watch has resulted in the viewing figures.

This is very much a one off. They do it with F1 now and again, throw a bone and all that.

I think this is the third boxing show they’ve done it on since Matchroom left. I’m with BT but get Now Entertainment through it so wouldn’t have been able to watch otherwise.

So since the departure of the self-declared "World's top promoter", viewing figures have gone up?

This is all down to it being on Showcase. It is like comparing Apples with Oranges. Good PR all the same.

handsofstone wrote: ↑08 Feb 2022, 10:12 Ive spoke to loads of people who watched the card or at least the Eubank fight, as Ruthless mentioned sky showcase showing it on Freeview played it's part

yeah a lad at work watched it and he's one who only watches the bigger fights really

Frostieballs wrote: ↑09 Feb 2022, 05:30 This is all down to it being on Showcase. It is like comparing Apples with Oranges. Good PR all the same.

Yep. One of Katie Taylor’s fights (the one with 3 women world title fights) did 2m viewers but that was because they had it on YouTube too.

maverick23 wrote: ↑09 Feb 2022, 05:53

Frostieballs wrote: ↑09 Feb 2022, 05:30 This is all down to it being on Showcase. It is like comparing Apples with Oranges. Good PR all the same.

Yep. One of Katie Taylor’s fights (the one with 3 women world title fights) did 2m viewers but that was because they had it on YouTube too.

Yeh. It was YouTube. I don’t think it did that much on live showing.. did it?