Saturday’s Women’s Fight Night Smashes Sky Records
Author:
Roy Brindley
The first-ever all-female boxing card staged last Saturday is being described as “one of the greatest nights in boxing history”. Figures released by broadcaster Sky Sports show a huge number of sports fans tuned in to see the memorable night of women’s boxing. It was the most-watched women’s professional boxing event in history and it attracted the biggest-ever audience for a live women’s sporting event on Sky.
Savannah Marshall (left) and Claressa Shields went the full distance in Saturday’s middleweight title fight. ?GettyImages
The groundbreaking event was headlined by a ‘fight of the year’ contender between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall. A peak audience of over a million viewers tuned in as Shields secured a points victory over her rival to retain the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF, and The Ring female middleweight titles and claim the WBO female middleweight title.
Global Appeal and a Strong Demographic
The live coverage, featuring two world title fights and some of the UK’s most exciting young fighters, reached over two million viewers. Millions more reportedly watched the build-up and action across Sky Sports Boxing YouTube and Sky Sports TikTok live streams. Additionally, the event was screened in 150 countries worldwide, including ESPN+ in the United States. BBC Radio 5 Live also covered the action.
Underlining the growth in women’s sports, 35 percent of the 20,000 ticket purchases – to watch the action live in London’s O2 Arena – were made by women. Forty percent of those that watched at home were women – well above the normal average for a fight night on Sky Sports.
“What an amazing night! This was a pivotal moment not just for women’s boxing but the sport as a whole,” said Jonathan Licht, Managing Director of Sky Sports. “To know that such a large audience tuned in at home to see these fights – in addition to a sell-out crowd at The O2 – shows the interest and potential for the sport.”
Sky Scored in Several Ways
To make the event available to a wider and new audience Sky Sports’ coverage was simulcast on Sky Showcase, meaning households without a Sky Sports subscription could also watch. Sky Sports YouTube streamed four undercard fights including Mikaela Mayer versus Alycia Baumgardner.
In that bout, Baumgardner took her record to 13-1 when becoming the new IBF, WBC, and WBO women’s super-featherweight champion via a controversial split decision.
On Saturday, Sky also launched its new interactive Viewer’s Verdict feature on the Sky Sports App. The innovative second-screen experience, which saw 45,000 fans take part, allowed users to score cards and take part in polls on the night.
Record Bet Numbers Reported by the Bookies
The massive interest was also good news for the bookmakers. The BetVictor online sportsbook seemingly enjoyed the event as much as Sky TV. “On Saturday we saw significant interest in the Shields versus Marshall fight. We recorded our biggest ever number of bets taken on a female fight,” Sam Boswell, spokesperson for the company told Online-Casinos.com.
“The popularity of women’s sports from a betting perspective is certainly growing. With increased exposure in the media, we are seeing rising turnover on events like this and women’s football. The win for Shields was favorable for us with more bets taken on Marshall to win the fight.”
“We expect to see the trend of growing interest in women’s sports betting continue if mainstream media coverage continues to support a variety of events,” BetVictor’s representative enthused.
BetVictor and other top boxing betting sites and fans do not have long to wait. The next fight on Sky Sports will be headlined by Natasha Jonas’s world title unification fight with Maire-Eve Dicaire on 12th November at the Manchester Arena.
