Deontay Wilder's latest win over Gerald Washington, his third fight as a headliner on broadcast television, did not draw the kind of viewership Wilder normally does.
The Wilder vs. Washington bout for Wilder's WBC heavyweight title, which saw Wilder win via fifth-round stoppage, drew 1.76 million viewers on FOX according to Nielsen Ratings. The broadcast peaked at 1.86 million viewers for Wilder's defense.
The Wilder-Washington ratings were lower than Wilder’s last appearance on broadcast television -- Wilder’s win over Chris Arreola drew a peak viewership of 2.54 million in a fight also broadcast by FOX on July 16. The television numbers are also lower than his 11th-round stoppage of Johann Duhaupas in September 2015, which peaked at 2.36 million viewers on NBC. Even with the relatively low numbers, this was still the most watched boxing broadcast of the year so far.
Competing against FOX was ABC's broadcast of the Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers NBA game (peaked at 2.43 million viewers) and the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins NHL game which broadcasted on NBC (peaked at 1.91 million viewers).
The other two fights shown on the FOX card saw Jarrett Hurd defeat Tony Harrison via KO to win the vacant IBF junior middleweight championship, and Dominic Breazeale stopping Izuagbe Ugonoh in the fifth round of their encounter.
