Top Rank on ESPN World Title Fight Delivers Second Highest-Rated Boxing Telecast on Cable Television in 2017, Second Only to July 1 Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn
Event Aired Live and Exclusively on ESPN and ESPN Deportes
Re-airs Tonight on 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and Available to Stream at Anytime on the ESPN App
ESPN’s live telecast of the Saturday, November 11 Top Rank on ESPN (10:30 p.m. ET to 12:15 a.m. ET) scored two major victories. The overall event delivered 0.9 metered market rating according to Nielsen, making it the second highest-rated boxing telecast on cable television in 2017. The featured co-main event, a battle between Artur Beterbiev (12-0, 12 KOs) and Enrico Köelling (23-2, 6 KOs) for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight world title, delivered a 1.0 metered market rating, making it the year’s second highest-rated boxing main event on cable television.
A building-record crowd for boxing of 13,838 at the Save Mart Center at Fresno State featured two co-main bouts, Beterbiev vs. Köelling and Jose Ramirez (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Mike Reed (23-1, 12 KOs).
Also of note:
- The November 11 Top Rank on ESPN scored two of the eight highest-rated bouts for cable television in 2017
- The second co-main event (Ramirez vs. Reed) averaged a .7 metered market average, making it eighth highest-rated boxing event for cable television in 2017
- Birmingham was the top local market, where the telecast averaged a 8.2 metered market rating, including a 10.8 rating during the first main event
- New Orleans was the second highest-rated local market, where the telecast averaged a 4.3 metered market rating
| TOP BOXING OVERNIGHTS ON CABLE IN 2017 (FULL TELECAST) | |||||
| Date | Network | Fight | Duration | Metered Market Rating | |
| 07/01/2017 | ESPN | Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn | 183 | 1.8 | |
| 11/11/2017 | ESPN | Artur Beterbiev vs. Enrico Koelling | 110 | 0.9 | |
| 05/20/2017 | HBO | Terence Crawford vs. Felix Diaz | 39 | 0.9 | |
| 09/09/2017 | HBO | Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Roman Gonzalez | 14 | 0.9 | |
| 07/01/2017 | ESPN | Shane Mosley Jr vs. David Touissaint | 57 | 0.8 | |
| 04/08/2017 | HBO | Vasily Lomachenko vs. Jason Sosa | 36 | 0.8 | |
| TOP BOXING OVERNIGHTS ON CABLE IN 2017 (MAIN EVENT) | |||||
| Date | Network | Fight | Metered Market Rating | ||
| 07/01/2017 | ESPN | Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn | 2.4 | ||
| 11/11/2017 | ESPN | Artur Beterviev vs. Enrico Koelling | 1.0 | ||
| 08/19/2017 | ESPN | Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo | 1.0 | ||
| 05/20/2017 | HBO | Terence Crawford vs Felix Diaz | 0.9 | ||
| 09/09/2017 | HBO | Rungvisai Vs. Gonzalez | 0.9 | ||
| 07/01/2017 | ESPN | Shane Mosley Jr. vs David Toussaint | 0.8 | ||
| 04/08/2017 | HBO | Vasily Lomachenko vs Jason Sosa | 0.8 | ||
| 11/11/2017 | ESPN | Jose Ramirez vs Mike Reed | 0.7 | ||
Two more Top Rank on ESPN fights are scheduled for 2017—December 9 and 13. Both are highly anticipated and the Vasily Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux is regarded as the best fight card remaining on the 2017 boxing calendar.
December 9, 9 p.m. ET Live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App
Top Rank on ESPN from New York City’s The Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 9 at 9 p.m. main event features Vasily Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) against Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs), the first time two-time Olympic gold medalists have fought each other professionally at the highest level. Lomachenko will defend his WBO junior lightweight world title against the reigning (WBA) super bantamweight champion Rigondeaux.
December 13, 6:30 a.m. ET Live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App
Boxing’s Cinderella Man and Brisbane, Australia’s favorite son, Jeff “The Hornet” Horn, returns to the ring in the first defense of the world title he won off the legendary Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) will be risking his newly-minted World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown against Top-10 contender Gary “Hellraiser” Corcoran (17-1, 7 KOs), of London.
