By Scott Gilfoid: In a real surprise, last Saturday night’s fight between IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) and American Bryant Jennings (19-1, 10 KOs) brought in huge ratings for HBO Championship Boxing at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight drew a peak of 1,742,000 viewers with a peak of 1,637,000 viewers, according to the Nielson ratings, making it the top boxing fight for 2015.
In fact, the fight is the biggest one on HBO since 2012. Granted, it was on regular HBO and not pay-per-view, but it’s still a big deal that a fight between Wladimir and Jennings was able to bring in those type of numbers. Wladimir hadn’t fought in the United States in seven years since his fight against Sultan Ibraginov in 2008.