Premier Boxing Champions on NBC Was a Hit

It looks like I wasn't the only one that tuned in for boxing on Saturday night. NBC says their debut broadcast of Premier Boxing Champions over the weekend brought in the highest ratings for a boxing broadcast in 17 years.

To be honest, I'm not even sure why I watched the broadcast, as I know virtually nothing about boxing. I did go to a boxing match, once, and it was a good time. After seeing the commercials for Premier Boxing Champions several times during the Saturday PGA Tour coverage, I decided to watch. And it was great! At least, the second match was great. The first match was a little dull, but the second was tremendous. The Associated Press called the fight between  Keith Thurman and Robert Guerrero “the kind of fight that had the crowd on its feet and gave a much needed boost to boxing.” In case you weren't watching, Thurman won in a unanimous decision. Both of them were pretty beaten up by the time the whole thing was over.

So just how many people watched Premiere Boxing Champions? An average of 3.4 million, with a peak 4.2 million viewers during the final rounds of Thurman VS Guerrero, according to NBC. That's the largest television boxing audience since March of 1998, when Oscar De La Hoya’s Fight Night on Fox had a total of 5.9 million viewers.

The next Premiere Boxing Champions telecast will be on March 13 on Spike TV, then CBS will broadcast boxing on April 4, and another prime time match will air on NBC April 11. I will most likely be watching, again.