Thurman vs. Porter brings in big ratings on CBS

By Boxing News - 06/26/2016 - Comments

Thurman vs Porter

By Allan Fox: Last Saturday’s fight between WBA 147lb champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) and #2 WBA Shawn Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) was a big success on Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS as presented by Premier Boxing Champions. The Thurman-Porter main event brought in 2.0 rating that increased to 2.6 by the last hour of the fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Thurman won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision. Both fighters were hurt in the match. Porter got the better of Porter overall, but it was still a fight that had very little to separate the two fighters. “There’s got to be a rematch,” said promoter Lou Dibella to ESPN.com.

It would be a good idea to have a rematch put together sooner rather than later if PBC on CBS wants to bring in the giant ratings that we saw last night. It would be a disapoitment if Thurman goes back to fighting guys like Robert Guerrero, Luis Collazo and Diego Chaves once again. The fans want to see Thurman fight good opponents on a frequent basis rather than opposition where they already know who’s going to win ahead of time.

It was good to see PBC putting on a real hit with the fight fans. Now hopefully they can keep this going with their future cards like the heavyweight match between WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder and Chris Arreola next month on July 16 on PBC on Fox and Fox Deportes from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

That fight isn’t seen as a bout nearly as competitive as the Thurman-Porter fight was on paper, but we’re talking about heavyweights here. Wilder vs. Arreola could still bring in huge ratings numbers based on Wilder and Arreola being well known heavyweights.

The Thurman vs. Porter bout averaged a 1.8 rating last night, which was a huge 80% increase from last April’s fight between unbeaten welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. and former WBO 140lb champion Chris Algieri. Thurman has to be seen as the major factor for that happening though, because he’d been giving numerous interviews in the weeks leading up to the Thurman-Porter fight to help promote the fight. Thurman likes to talk, and he did a lot of it and helped his own case with his interviews with the media.

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PBC needs more match-ups like the Thurman vs. Porter fight to help pump up the ratings. If they can match their other fighters against interesting opponents, it would help in a big way. Thurman could face Spence, Kell Brook or even Porter again on PBC. That would help things. Once Wilder gets past Arreola, they need to find a good opponent for him like IBF champion Anthony Joshua or someone like WBA interim heavyweight champion Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz. The important thing is that PBC needs to put on competitive fights between fighters that the boxing fans want to see. There are a lot of obscures fighters that wind up fighting in mismatches at times. That’s not good. With Spence, it would have been better if he was matched a good relevant welterweight last April instead of Algieri. Spence is too good to be fighting pumped up light welterweights. He needs to be fighting the best.

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