By Jake Donovan

The fight itself may have been a massive letdown in terms of action from bell to bell, but Tyson Fury's World heavyweight championship winning effort over Wladimir Klitschko on November 28 proved to be a blockbuster event on every level.

From playing to a sold-out crowd of 50,000 at ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany, to Fury ending Klitschko's lengthy title reign, there was plenty to celebrate without actually focusing on the fight itself. The live presentation also made the HBO brass smile, as the Saturday afternoon matinee special averaged a staggering 1.038 million viewers. 

Even more impressive is the fact that the broadcast performed as strong as it did despite going head-to-head with free-to-air CBS' live coverage of the annual "Iron Bowl" college football rivalry game between Alabama and Auburn. 

Klitschko's previous Saturday afternoon HBO headliner came just over one year ago, with his knockout win over Kubrat Pulev drawing an impressive 620,000 viewers. That bout marked his triumphant return to HBO, with the loss to Fury marking his third straight appearance on the American cable network giant. 

The rating is good for the 10th most viewed HBO fight in 2015, a startling statistic considering that it's the only fight on the list to have not played in prime time. The live telecast began at 4:45 p.m. ET, with the opening bell sounding at roughly 5:20 p.m. ET.

Klitschko's lone other ring appearance of 2015 owns the number-two spot on that list, with his 12-round win over Bryant Jennings in April drawing 1.637 million viewers. The fight was his first in the United States in more than seven years. 

Fury made his debut on HBO, having previously appeared in front of stateside-televised boxing fans in April '13, when he climbed off the deck to knock out Steve Cunninghman in the 7th round of their NBC-aired headliner at Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City.


The telecast also overlapped a Saturday afternoon edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC, although the main event - Jermall Charlo scoring a 4th round stoppage of Wilky Campfort - ended just as Fury and Klitschko were in the ring and ready to fight. 

Combined with the exclusive rebroadcast in primetime, Fury-Klitschko drew 1.714 million viewers. While the action was lacking, the ratings and the live gate is good news for event handlers and a true bright spot heading into plans for an eventual rematch as Klitschko exercised his contractual option for a second crack at Fury on Wednesday. 

Fury's win ended Klitschko's title reign of more than 9 1/2 years dating back to his repeat win over Chris Byrd in April '06. The hulking Ukrainian had made 18 successful defenses, a run that included reestablishing true championship lineage with his 9th round knockout win over Ruslan Chagaev in June '09. 

The evening rebroadcast also included replays from the November 21 HBO PPV telecast from Las Vegas. Fans were able to get either a first or second look (depending on whether or not they bought the PPV, whose numbers have yet to be released) at Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez' World middleweight championship winning effort over Miguel Cotto, as well as Francisco Vargas' heroic come-from-behind 9th round knockout win over Takashi Miura to win a super featherweight title.

The Alvarez-Cotto replay drew 901,000 viewers on HBO, while Vargas-Miura - a Fight of the Year candidate - drew 772,000 viewers. 

All aforementioned ratings data provided by Nielsen Media Research .

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox