ESPN's live telecast of the Saturday, May 10, World Boxing Council (WBC) World Heavyweight Championship fight between Bermane "B. Ware" Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs) delivered a 0.8 overnight rating according to Nielsen, making it the highest-rated fight on any ESPN network since 2003 (Monte Barrett vs. Eric Kirkland delivered a 1.3 overnight rating on October 3, 2003, on ESPN2).
Stiverne defeated Arreola by TKO in the sixth round, making him the first boxer of Haitian descent to win a Heavyweight title. Saturday's fight is also tied for the third-highest-rated fight overall on any ESPN network (based on overnights, records date back to 2001). Metered Markets:
The top 5 local markets for this fight were as follows:
- New Orleans, 4.1 metered market rating
- San Antonio, 2.2 metered market rating
- San Diego, 1.5 metered market rating
- Providence, 1.5 metered market rating
- Fort Myers, 1.3 metered market rating
With a 2.2 metered market rating, San Antonio saw its highest local market rating for boxing on any ESPN Network (records date back to 2001).