For the second consecutive week, boxing on ESPN barely eclipsed the 500,000 viewers mark.
The July 14 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card, headlined by Regis Prograis vs. Juan Jose Velasco for the interim WBC junior welterweight title, averaged 518,000 viewers according to Showbuzz Daily.
The viewership is only slightly down from Top Rank’s previous broadcast on July 7. That card averaged 534,000 viewers, but the card not only had to compete with UFC 226, but also was hampered the day before the card took place as WBC junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez’s opponent, Danny O’Connor, was hospitalized due to severe dehydration from his weight cut attempt. The card moved forward with a new main event: Egidijus Kavaliauskas vs. Juan Carlos Abreu for the NABF welterweight title.
Prograis dominated Velasco, knocking Velasco down in rounds five, seven and eight, en route to an eighth-round TKO victory. With the win, Prograis not only retained the interim WBC title, but also punched his ticket into the World Boxing Super Series junior welterweight tournament. Prograis joins the likes of WBC Silver champion Josh Taylor, WBA champion Kiryl Relikh and undefeated contender Ivan Baranchyk.
Top Rank Boxing on ESPN returns in August with a world title doubleheader headlined by Raymundo Beltran vs. Jose Pedraza for the WBO lightweight title. That fight will take place on August 25 in Arizona with the other world title bout taking place on the card being Isaac Dogboe vs. Hidenori Otake for the WBO super bantamweight title.
