by David P. Greisman

The final hour of Saturday’s “Premier Boxing Champions” broadcast — which featured nearly all of Deontay Wilder’s entertaining title defense against Johann Duhaupas — averaged a preliminary rating of 2.365 million viewers in what was the first major heavyweight broadcast on NBC since the 1985 fight between Larry Holmes and Carl “The Truth” Williams.

That figure is according to ShowBuzzDaily.com and will be even higher when the final rating comes in, due to the way in which Nielsen’s preliminary ratings are compiled for sports broadcasts.

The first half hour of the broadcast between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Eastern Time averaged 1.526 million viewers while the 9 to 10 p.m. slot averaged 1.97 million. The opening bout between heavyweights Dominic Breazale and Fred Kassi ended around 9:30 p.m.

This was Wilder’s highest rating by far.

His title win this past January over Bermane Stiverne on Showtime averaged 1.24 million and peaked at 1.34 million. His defense against Eric Molina in June on Showtime competed with a card on HBO and averaged 678,000 viewers.

The 2.365 million for the PBC main event was less than other NBC main events from the series. The first two shows, which features main events of Keith Thurman vs. Robert Guerrero in March and Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson in April, pulled in the strongest audiences. The early Wilder-Duhaupas rating is also below what Adrien Broner vs. Shawn Porter drew in June.

PBC’s ratings on NBC have been the strongest of the numerous networks showing the series.

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