By Jake Donovan

Robert Easter Jr. and Rances Barthelemy saw a significant drop in viewership from their previous respective Showtime performances.

Considering how their head-to-head battle played out, it’s probably a good thing.

The pair of former titlists turned in one of the most disappointing main events of 2019 – and perhaps recent memory – in boxing to a 12-round draw in a main event Showtime televised Saturday night from The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

The bout drew an average of 312,000 viewers atop a marketed “Showtime Boxing: Special Edition” tripleheader, hitting a peak of 343,000 viewers at 12:11 a.m. ET, according to data provided by Nielsen Media Research.

Easter (21-1-1, 14 KOs) fought for the first time since suffering the lone loss of his career, a 12-round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Mikey Garcia last July. Their lightweight title unification bout produced more than double the viewing audience of Saturday’s telecast, averaging 680,000 viewers and peaking at 725,000 viewers.

Of course, that show came with a much bigger budget as a “Showtime Championship Boxing” event.

The same applies to Barthelemy’s previous Showtime appearance. He suffered his first loss that night on a card headlined by Mikey Garcia.

For the former two-division titlist, it was a rematch with Kiryl Relikh against whom he dropped a 12-round decision last March. That 140-pound title bout – which came 11 months after Barthelemy (27-1-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) edged the Belarusian in their May 2017 title eliminator – averaged 489,000 viewers and peaked at 544,000 viewers.

The main event that night, Garcia’s 140-pound title win over Sergey Lipinets, averaged 618,000 viewers and peaked at 689,000 viewers.

Also included on Saturday’s tripleheader, former 140-pound titlist Viktor Postol cruised to a 10-round decision over France’s Mohamed Mimoune. An average of 217,000 viewers tuned in for the contest, which marked the Showtime debut for both boxers.

Peak viewership for the chief support bout wasn’t available at the time this story was posted.

Ratings data also wasn’t available for the evening’s opening contest, with unbeaten heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba scoring a second-round knockout of Germany’s Michael Wallisch. Both boxers appeared on Showtime for the first time in their respective careers, although Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) has been regularly showcased on FOX Sports as part of the “Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on FS1” series.

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