Two title fights was able to give ESPN a big boost in the viewership and ratings.
The May 11 Top Rank on ESPN card from Tucson, Arizona averaged 740,000 viewers and drew a 0.48 household rating. The card was headlined by Miguel Berchelt vs. Francisco Vargas for the WBC super featherweight title.
In terms of viewership and ratings, the May 11 card represented a major increase compared to past cards. The viewership for the May 11 show was around 54 percent higher than Top Rank's last ESPN-televised card which was 480,000 viewers on May 4 and the 0.48 rating on May 11 was 50 percent higher than the 0.32 rating that same May 4 show did.
The card was a world title doubleheader that were rematches, starting with the Emanuel Navarrete vs. Isaac Dogboe fight for the WBO super bantamweight title. Navarrete dominated Dogboe, dropping him twice and punishing him to the point where Dogboe’s corner threw in the towel during the final round. The fight was a rematch of their December 2018 fight that saw Navarrete win a 12-round decision to capture the title.
The main event was a rematch from their 2017 that saw Berchelt stop Vargas standing in the 11th round. The rematch was much less competitive and and shorter with Berchelt retaining the title after six rounds. Vargas’ corner refused to let him come out for the seventh round after suffering multiple cuts on his face from Berchelt’s punches, awarding the champion his fifth world title defense.
Top Rank’s next boxing card on ESPN television will take place on May 25 when the company has a card in Kissimmee, Florida. That card will be headlined by a WBO super featherweight title fight between Masayuki Ito and Jamel Herring.
