Gervonta Davis' first big main event fight in the United States did not draw the strongest ratings out there for Showtime.
Davis' first-round knockout win against Hugo Ruiz to retain the WBA "Super" super featherweight title on February 9 averaged 429,000 viewers on Showtime while peaking at 487,000. The three-fight telecast, which took place at the Dignity Sports Health Park in Carson, California, averaged 311,000 viewers.
The fight was supposed to be Davis taking Abner Mares, but Mares suffered a detached retina, forcing him to withdraw from the fight after undergoing surgery. Mares was replaced by Ruiz, who fought for the second time in a three-week span. Davis dominated the first round and dropped Ruiz in the fight and although Ruiz got back up, he was unable to continue fighting, giving the win to Davis.
The other two fights that took place on Showtime were Mario Barrios vs. Richard Zamora and Javier Fortuna vs. Sharif Bogere. The boxing card was going head to head against both a Golden Boy Boxing on DAZN card in Indio, California, headlined by Alberto Machado vs. Andrew Cancio, and UFC 234, headlined by Israel Adesanya vs. Anderson Silva.
Showtime's next boxing card, the next in the network's ShoBox: The New Generation series, will take place on February 15, followed by a February 23 broadcast from London with James DeGale vs. Chris Eubank Jr. in the main event.
