How Much Might Forgettable Thurman-Garcia Fight Damage Future Viewership?

By Keith Idec

The Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia ratings were so impressive network television executives must take notice.

That much appears clear.

A boxing match televised in prime time on free TV hasn’t drawn a peak audience of 5.1 million viewers or an average audience of 3.74 million viewers since 1998. That last part is somewhat misleading because boxing barely has been televised in prime time on free TV over the past 19 years.

That trend started just two years ago, when Al Haymon began purchasing time on CBS, NBC and FOX in an effort to expose boxers to bigger audiences than fights on HBO and Showtime can attract. Nevertheless, if boxing programming can consistently draw numbers similar to Thurman-Garcia, network executives will view it as content worth buying, not filler funded by Haymon’s heavily scrutinized, nine-figure venture.

That development theoretically would be good for everyone in boxing, not just those affiliated with PBC, because free TV would offer options to promoters who are finding it difficult to land dates on HBO and/or Showtime.

It remains to be seen, however, just how many of those new viewers were turned off by what they witnessed Saturday night from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Thurman-Garcia wasn’t the most boring boxing match we’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t must-see TV, either. Duds aren’t sport-altering when a fight is broadcast by HBO or Showtime, premium-cable channels to which many boxing fans subscribe because basically they’ll watch most fights that HBO or Showtime televise.

When the sport has access to the important platform it possessed Saturday night, though, aesthetic failures can have a lasting impact among viewers who might’ve watched boxing for the first time in a long time.

If a casual boxing fan gave Thurman-Shawn Porter a shot on CBS eight months ago, odds are he or she would’ve wanted to watch boxing again. The welterweights delivered one of the best action fights of 2016 – a competitive, compelling battle full of exciting exchanges.

If a casual fight fan took that same approach to watching Thurman-Garcia on CBS, changing channels clearly crossed his or her mind. For all the promotional propaganda about Thurman-Garcia being something special, it wasn’t.

Those that know their boxing obviously weren’t looking at Thurman-Garcia as a modern-day Leonard-Hearns, despite such comparisons entering their welterweight title unification fight. Committed boxing fans understand, too, that matchups between top-tier fighters often don’t produce the most memorable action.

Those that don’t know boxing were expecting a fascinating fight Saturday night that never developed. And they might not soon forget that they weren’t exactly entertained by Thurman-Garcia. 

The fight began promising enough. The first round was as riveting at times as Thurman’s previous appearance on CBS, his all-action, 12-round, unanimous-decision win against Porter on June 25 at Barclays Center.

Unfortunately, after a first round in which Thurman hurt Garcia with a left hook, Thurman-Garcia became a tactical encounter that might make casual boxing fans think twice about watching the next “big fight” on free TV.

Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC) spent the last three rounds moving away from Philadelphia’s Garcia (33-1, 19 KOs), protecting the lead he and trainer Dan Birmingham believed he had built on the scorecards. The unbeaten WBA/WBC world welterweight champion’s cautious strategy cost him on the scorecard of judge Kevin Morgan, who scored the 12-round fight for Garcia, 115-113.

The two other judges, John McKaie and Joe Pasquale, credited Thurman with winning, his decision to disengage late in the fight notwithstanding. McKaie scored it 116-112 for Thurman, while Pasquale had the Clearwater, Florida, fighter in front, 115-113.

Thurman made no apologies for fighting cautiously against a dangerous puncher who could’ve changed the course of their competitive fight with one shot.

Like many boxers will tell you, some nights you just need to win however you can and worry about looking good next time. That’s undoubtedly the tact Thurman took Saturday night, when he defended his safe strategy in a post-fight press conference.

“People forget that boxing is a sport and sports are scored on a points system,” Thurman said. “Now fight fans love to see a tremendous fight. Sometimes, when you come to a boxing match, you get what you want. You get what you desire. But sometimes you see boxing. Boxing is an art. I finessed my way to victory.”

Angel Garcia, Danny Garcia’s father and trainer, demonstratively disagreed.

“You can’t win a fight running, bro,” Angel Garcia said. “He hit Danny with a good shot in the first [round]. It was a good shot. Danny sucked it up, came back [in] the second, was there in front of him. Then he ran all the way from the sixth, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. How do you win the fight? You’ve gotta be kidding me, brother. This is a sport where you’ve gotta do contact with the fighter, with the person in front of you. You just can’t run. It’s like when [Erislandy] Lara and Canelo [Alvarez], they fought. It’s the same thing, and they gave it to Canelo for being the aggressor. You know what I’m saying?

“I’m not being a sore loser or nothing like that. But if he would’ve beat [Danny], he would’ve had won, then I’ll say, ‘I take my hat off,’ and say, ‘Good job, champ.’ But you can’t beat a world champion like that, bro. You just cannot.”

Some would argue Angel Garcia is incorrect, that Thurman had built enough of a lead early in their fight to employ that safe strategy late and still win.

What’s indisputable is the way Thurman performed late in that fight made an already disappointing showing more difficult for viewers to appreciate. That won’t matter much to the hardcore boxing fans who’ll almost always come back to watch the next fight no matter what takes place in the ring.

Yet for those that watched boxing Saturday night for the first time in a long time – and clearly there were many of those viewers – the mundane nature of Thurman-Garcia might make them skip the next supposedly important fight on free TV.

CBS doesn’t have another boxing card on its schedule for the remainder of 2017, thus it could take some time to determine how much the lack of action in Thurman-Garcia damages future viewership.

Regardless, it wasn’t merely important for Thurman-Garcia to generate ratings that’ll make network television executives to take notice. Their fight was as much about being able to take advantage of this ratings momentum moving forward.

Thurman-Porter provided promising momentum because it was thoroughly entertaining and left viewers wanting more. The same cannot be said about Thurman-Garcia.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.