First published in the Fightful Boxing Newsletter, which you can check out every Thursday at Fightful.com!
***
Boxing had numerous major cards take place this past weekend, with PBC hosting a card from the historic Nassau Coliseum and HBO hosting a major tripleheader card immediately afterwards. Even in London, there were a couple of title matches and the final spot in the World Boxing Super Series was at stake. Below is a quick summary of some of the biggest fights that took place this past weekend.
PBC on Fox:
The July 15 PBC on Fox card, the first boxing card at Nassau Coliseum in a few decades, had an abysmal night in terms of viewership. It's hard for me to be really surprised since nothing about this card inspired casual fans to tune in. After all, the main event was Omar Figueroa (who is unknown to the mass public) vs. Robert Guerrero (an old fighter who was coming into this fight was zero momentum whatsoever) in a fight where no titles or future title opportunities are on the line.
The PBC card averaged 886,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This is the first time a PBC on Fox card failed to average more than a million viewers and it drew the fewest viewers of any program on network TV in prime time that night. The broadcast averaged 267,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic and had a 0.61 rating.
The Nassau Coliseum card had Omar Figueroa vs. Robert Guerrero as the main event of the card, of which the last 30 minutes of the broadcast peaked at just more than a million viewers. I knew this was going to happen because the card was not a good one and there was a far better card taking place on HBO right after. The PBC on Fox card back in February doubled the viewership with a Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington main event, averaging 1.76 million viewers. Even that number back then was a mildly disappointing one, so it’s hard to imagine this latest card being nothing but a complete disaster in the ratings.
Omar Figueroa Jr. defeats Robert Guerrero: TKO, Round 3: Although there was action in the ring, this fight was kind of sad to watch. Guerrero was dropped five times in the fight as Figueroa was in control of the bout. It was obvious at that point that Guerrero's time in the ring is over. Figueroa got himself a nice win on national television, but the momentum gained from this win will quickly dissipate if he doesn't get a big fight soon. Figueroa said he would like to move down to junior welterweight so he needs to pray he gets first dibs on the winner of the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo unification fight. Otherwise, beating a retiring Guerrero who is 2-3 in his last five fights would almost be meaningless.
HBO Card:
Miguel Berchelt defeats Takashi Miura to retain WBC super featherweight title: UD (119-108, 120-109, 116-111): Many had expected this fight to be a fight of the year candidate, but the quality of the fight certainly did not live up to its lofty expectations. Miura, one of the hardest hitters in the super featherweight division, was not able to get into a rhythm as Berchelt outboxed the Japanese superstar pretty much the entire fight. The fight started off nicely when Berchelt dropped Miura in the closing seconds of the first round. Berchelt pretty much avoided Miura's hard left hand. Miura is 2-2 in his last four fights and at 33 years old, has been in many a war throughout his 14-year career. I think it's a bit too soon for him to retire, but his time as a top 3 super featherweight is pretty much done.
Jezreel Corrales defeats Robinson Castellanos to retain WBA "Super" super featherweight title: TD (94-93, 96-92, 94-94): Corrales made his American debut in his first fight since signing with Golden Boy Promotions earlier this year. Robinson Castellanos brought the fight to him and the fight was reaching a great point. Castellanos dropped Corrales twice in the fourth round and Corrales returned the favor by knocking down Corrales in the seventh round. An accidental headbutt caused a nasty cut below Castellanos’ right eye in the 10th round and the fight was called at that point. The fight went to a technical decision where Corrales had a slim lead in the cards and therefore, retained his title. This was, in my opinion, the best fight of the weekend and it was the most competitive title fight all weekend long. There should be a rematch because Castellanos had a legitimate claim to winning the fight had it gone the distance.
Sullivan Barrera defeats Joe Smith Jr. to win the WBC International light heavyweight title: UD (97-92, 96-93, 97-92): After knocking out Bernard Hopkins into retirement, Smith wanted to cash in on the momentum and challenge Adonis Stevenson for the WBC world title. That fight never materialized and so Smith had to defend his International title against Barrera. Smith started the fight well, dropping Barrera in the first round, but did not do much afterwards. Barrera bounced back from the knockdown and was a far more aggressive fighter. There was some controversy at the end when the referee said the 10th round would be the final one, even though the fight was originally supposed to be a 12-round fight. Overall, Barrera landed 126 more punches (187-61) than Smith, according to CompuBox. Barrera won his third fight in a row since a lopsided decision loss to Andre Ward 16 months ago.
London Card:
Chris Eubank Jr. defeats Arthur Abraham to retain International Boxing Organization World super middleweight title: UD (118-110, 118-110, 120-108): This fight could have been a lot more competitive, at least on paper, but Eubank dominated a flat-footed Abraham. Abraham did not throw many punches in the fight and it was such a blowout that Eubank kind of took it easy in the final round. Even then, Abraham didn't do enough to win the final round. The win has Eubank take the final spot in the World Boxing Super Series' super middleweight tournament and the tournament's No. 3 seed. Eubank will face Avni Yildirim in the quarterfinals.
Lee Selby defeats Jonathan Victor Barros to retain the IBF World featherweight title: UD (117-110, 117-110, 119-108): Fight week was an extremely hard one for Selby. His mother died and Selby was worried as to whether or not Barros would even show up to the fight this time around. The two of them were supposed to fight back in January, but it was called off at the weigh-in because Barros could not be licensed because of a positive hepatitis test, postponing the fight and Selby was visibly distraught and sad when the fight was first called off. Selby stayed focused and put on an excellent display and outclassed Barros to retain his belt for the third time. Selby suffered a bloody gash over his right eye from an accidental head-butt in the fifth round, but dropped Barros with a left hook in the final round to put a nice cherry on top of a dominant victory that ended Barros' seven-fight winning streak end.
The rest of the results on those three cards are in the "results from the world of boxing" section in the next page.
