Wilder Homecoming Draws 678,000 Viewers For SHO

Anytime HBO and Showtime go head-to-head, the results are rarely favorable. Such was the case for the latest installment of Showtime Championship Boxing, which was topped by Deontay Wilder's 9th round knockout of fringe but game contender Eric Molina this past Saturday at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

The bout—Wilder's first in his home state since 2012, and the first ever heavyweight title fight to ever take place in Alabama—did big business at the box office, drawing a sold-out crowd of 9,347 at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) campus, less than an hour from Wilder's hometown in Tuscaloosa. 

It didn't quite resonate as much with the TV audience, drawing an average of 678,000 viewers over the course of the evening. The number was barely half of the 1.24 million viewers he pulled in for his title-winning effort over Bermane Stiverne this past January, a fight that rates among the most viewed boxing events in Showtime's history since Nielsen began tracking data on the network's flagship station separate from its affiliate channels. 

In the co-feature, Puerto Rico's Jose Pedraza claimed a junior lightweight belt in a whitewash of Andrey Klimov. The supporting bout peaked at 530,000 viewers over the course of their 12-round affair, though perhaps attributable to fans waiting for the main event to begin, as the overall bout averaged just 381,000 viewers. 

The event went head to head with an HBO Boxing After Dark telecast in New York City. The HBO showed rising prospect Felix Verdejo, who scored a 10-round shutout of Ivan Najera in a battle of unbeaten lightweights. Their bout averaged 611,000 viewers, peaking at 655,000 viewers, both serving as the points for the telecast. 

Verdejo proved to be the star of the show, with the majority of the 3,321 in attendance at Madison Square Garden Theatre on hand to catch the Puerto Rican boxer in action on the eve of the National Puerto Rican Day parade. 

Much of the crowd grew disinterested to the point of booing—and eventually walking out—on the main event, in which Nicholas Walters beat Miguel Marriaga over 12 dull rounds, though losing his title after coming in heavy for their featherweight bout. The headlining bout on paper drew 588,000 viewers. 

HBO's victory on the night came in overall telecast average, with its broadcast averaging 562,000 viewers to 482,000 for Showtime on the evening.

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Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox