Boxing Ratings, Even During The Pandemic, Are Impressive, Thanks To Muhammad Ali And Joe Frazier

Even though there’s no live boxing to watch, hundreds of thousands of people are still tuning to watch professional fighters blast each other in the ring. And as the numbers from last weekend show, putting on classic fights leads to relatively strong TV ratings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if those bouts are 45 years old.

As noted by ShowBuzzDaily, an average of 699,000 people last Saturday watched ESPN’s presentation of the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier—a mega-bout, aka as the Thrilla in Manilla, won by Ali in 1975. More people watched that event than tuned in to Wednesday’s new episode of AEW Dynamite (683,000 viewers), the newly emerged pro wrestling promotion that is trying its best to compete with WWE.

Among the top-20 most highly-rated sports programs last week, classic boxing shows made up eight of them, including replays of Frazier-Ali I from 1971, Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks from 1988, and Oscar De La Hoya vs. Julio Cesar Chavez from 1998.

“Amazing numbers on ESPN Linear,” wrote one boxing analyst on Twitter. “… Boxing Library works amazing! Perhaps better than any other Sport.”

On Saturday, ESPN aired an 11-hour boxing marathon, including the Ali-Frazier trilogy, and it was the first time that the initial meeting between those two legendary heavyweights had been seen on TV since 1991. All three fights of the trilogy are still available on the ESPN+ streaming platform.

BOXING RANKINGS:

For comparison’s sake, the only boxing match to be shown live on ESPN this year was Eleider Alvarez’s knockout win vs. Michael Seals in a light heavyweight showdown in January. That card averaged 704,000 viewers.

Showtime has also showcased some of its most classic fights in recent weeks, including the two fights between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo and the pair of showdowns between Tony Ayala and Johnny Tapia.

An email message to Showtime asking about its ratings was not returned.

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