By Jake Donovan

The final televised boxing card of February was pretty much in line with the rest of the month—down from the start of the year, but with plenty of room for growth.

Saturday’s live installment of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) drew a combined 358,000 viewers across all Fox Sports platforms. The main FS1 telecast—topped by Anthony Dirrell’s technical decision win over Avni Yildirim live from the Minneapolis Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota—drew 291,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.

The live tripleheader–which pulled in an additional 65,000 viewers on Fox Depoertes and an average minute audience of 2,135 on Fox Sports streaming services—peaked at 366,000 viewers in between 11:30-11:45pm ET.

Interestingly, the peak viewership came during the chief support featuring local favorite and rising welterweight contender Jamal James in a 6th round stoppage of Janer Gonzalez. It also speaks to the show’s late start time (10:30pm ET) and the 2 hour, 58 minute telecast also running an hour over its allotted time slot.

Dirrell (33-1-1, 24KOs) became a two-time super middleweight titlist with a split decision win over Yildirim, with the timing of the bout being stopped and the final scorecards stirring up lively debate from observers. A headbutt left Dirrell—who along with his brother Andre served on the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team in Athens—with a deep cut over his left eye, prompting the ringside physician to stop the contest inside of 10 rounds.

Neither the decision to end the fight or coming up on the wrong end of a split decision sat well with Yildirim (21-2, 12KOs), who along with promoter Ahmet Oner has officially filed a protest with the World Boxing Council (WBC), whose title was at stake.

As it stands, the official verdict marks Dirrell’s second tour as a WBC titlist. His first effort proved a historic moment, becoming just the second-ever cancer survivor to go on to win a major title, having done so in a 12-round win over Sakio Bika in their Aug. ’14 rematch.

The 34-year old Flint, Mich. native lost the title in his first defense, a majority decision in favor of Badou Jack in their April ’15 PBC on Spike TV headliner in Chicago, Ill.

Six wins have since followed, including a previous appearance on FS1 which eerily ended in similar fashion—with a cut over his left eye prompting the ringside physician to stop the contest. That said, his Nov. ’17 technical decision win over Denis Douglin—which ended inside of six rounds—wasn’t nearly as entertaining as was Saturday’s back-and-forth affair.

Nor was the event witnessed by as many observers, as the Nov. ’17 show drew an average of just 200,000 viewers. Saturday’s show marked more than a 45% improvement from that mark, and also up more than 35% from the 2018 calendar year average of 215,000 viewers per PBC on FS1 live installment.

Where it falls short is from its preceding telecast, with both coming in the aftermath of PBC’s long-term lucrative deal inked with Fox Sports last fall.

The first rebranded PBC on FS1 card aired on January 13, with Tennessee’s Caleb Plant winning his first world title in outpointing exiting champ Jose Uzcategui over 12 rounds. The Sunday evening show drew a healthy 761,000 viewers and peaking at 986,000 viewers—both good for all-time highs for any boxing event to air on FS1.

In addition to Plant’s compelling backstory was the timing of the show, with Fox able to aggressively market during the end of NFL regular season and into the first two rounds of the playoffs. Saturday’s card didn’t carry as much support, which of course will remain the challenge lying ahead for forthcoming telecasts.

PBC brass is already grooming super middleweight title unification, with Plant having served on the broadcast for Dirrell’s win over Yildirim. Similarly, Dirrell was on the FS1 call for Plant’s aforementioned title win in January.

The next edition of PBC on FS1 returns to a special Sunday night time slot, with former titlists Lamont Peterson and Sergey Lipinets colliding in a March 24 welterweight contest.

One week prior comes Fox’s foray into the Pay-Per-View market, when unbeaten pound-for-pound entrants Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia meet at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with Spence’s welterweight title at stake. Their event has enjoyed strong network support, with both boxers prominently featured during NFL on Fox telecasts, along with their recent Los Angeles press conference airing live on the flagship station, a boxing first.

Shoulder programming has already begun to rollout, with two separate shows airing over the weekend. Saturday’s showing of Fight Camp Spence Jr. - Garcia live on Fox averaged 387,000 viewers, while a Sunday afternoon edition of PBC Face-to-Face: Spence Jr. vs Garcia on FS1 delivered 522,000 viewers.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox