By Jake Donovan

The July 11 debut of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on ESPN didn’t jump out to the start that event handlers had hoped, drawing an average of 799,000 viewers over the course of a busy sports evening.

Topping the show, Keith Thurman survived a rough 5th round ending to force Luis Collazo to quit on his stool prior to the start of round eight. The bout peaked at 1.1 million viewers.

Opening the card, Willie Nelson rallied from a deficit on the cards to score an upset 9th round knockout of previously unbeaten Tony Harrison in their junior middleweight clash.

Regarding any telecast’s “sweet spot”, the event drew a 0.3 rating in the coveted 18-49 market—the number of viewers whose age ranges from 18-49 years of age.

The show produced favorable numbers when limiting comparisons to other boxing events. However, it was toppled in the ratings by NASCAR, as well as Fox Sports 1’s preliminary coverage of UFC 189

Overall, the numbers were down from a special edition of boxing in primetime on ESPN just over a year ago, when Bermane Stiverne knocked out Chris Arreola in the 6th round of their rematch last May.

As the lion’s share of boxing content had come from ESPN2 through its long-running Friday Night Fight series, ESPN experimented with prime time boxing coverage on its flagship station. The results from the Stiverne-Arreola rematch were favorable both in the ring and in terms of ratings expectations, drawing an average of 940,000 viewers, including 348,000 viewers in the 18-49 market.

Saturday’s show—the first on any ESPN outlet since ESPN2 closed the doors on Friday Night Fights in May—at USF Sun Dome in Tampa didn’t perform quite as favorably, which can be viewed one of two ways. The optimist would say that it’s a good start, a foundation on which to build.

The opposing view would point out that current trends—while still very early—suggest that starting points for PBC-aired events in fact turn out to be the high point.

Thurman’s 12-round win over Robert Guerrero headlined the first-ever PBC card, airing live in prime time on NBC. The March 7 show averaged 3.4 million viewers, peaking at more than 4 million. It remains the highest rated network telecast of 2015, with subsequent showings in April and June going in reverse, although still holding strong in the 18-49 market, which remains the series’ primary focus.

Numbers for PBC on Spike TV remain all over the produce. The series premiere on the network—Andre Berto’s knockout win over Josesito Lopez on March 13—exceeded expectations, in fact setting records for the network with its ratings for the Friday night time slot.

Performing equally well was the May 29 installment, in which Amir Khan outpointed Chris Algieri. Both events peaked at over 1 million viewers. Not quite making a dent, however, were events on April 24 (Badou Jack’s title-winning effort over Anthony Dirrell) and June 12 (Erislandy Lara’s points win over Delvin Rodriguez in a stinker of a bout), the latter producing the lowest rating of any PBC event to date.

PBC on ESPN returns August 1, airing live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Danny Garcia—who also followed Thurman’s lead in headlining the second installment of PBC on NBC, which aired in April—tops the bill as he faces Brooklyn’s own Paul Malignaggi in a 12-round welterweight bout. The fight is Garcia’s first since abandoning his World 140 lb. crown.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox