Another dominant performance from Shakur Stevenson drew higher viewership than the previous Stevenson fight ESPN televised.
Nielsen Media Research revealed Tuesday that an average of 1,353,000 viewers watched Stevenson’s 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Oscar Valdez in their 130-pound title unification fight Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. ESPN’s audience for Stevenson-Valdez, the main event of a three-bout broadcast, peaked at 1,440,000.
The average audience for Stevenson-Valdez was 120,000 higher than the one that tuned in for Stevenson’s 10th-round stoppage of Jamel Herring in his prior appearance (1,233,000). Viewership peaked at 1,264,000 for Stevenson-Herring, which took place October 23 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Nielsen’s numbers include only those that watched on ESPN’s linear channel in the United States, not viewers who watched on ESPN+ or ESPN Deportes.
ESPN doesn’t report viewing totals from ESPN+. The network’s $7-per-month streaming service is not audited by Nielsen Media Research, either.
The 24-year-old Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs), a native of Newark, New Jersey, won the WBO junior lightweight title from Cincinnati’s Herring (23-3, 11 KOs). The 2016 Olympic silver medalist captured the WBC super featherweight championship from Mexico’s Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs).
The average viewership for ESPN’s entire tripleheader Saturday night was 1,166,000. Including pre-fight and post-fight analysis, ESPN’s telecast lasted from 10:25 p.m. ET until 12:47 a.m. ET.
In ESPN’s opener, Las Vegas’ Nico Ali Walsh scored an impressive first-round knockout of Denver’s Alejandro Ibarra. The 21-year-old Ali Walsh (5-0, 4 KOs), a grandson of Muhammad Ali, landed a left-right combination that knocked Ibarra (7-2, 2 KOs) flat on his back and caused referee Russell Mora to end their four-round middleweight match 2:50 into the opening round.
Elite lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis then stopped Mexican veteran Esteban Sanchez in the sixth round of the eight-round co-feature. The 23-year-old Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), a 2021 Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Virginia, landed various unanswered power punches that caused referee Robert Hoyle to halt the action at 2:44 of the sixth round, with Sanchez (18-2, 8 KOs) still standing.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.