Netflix says 41.4m viewers watched Terence Crawford beat Canelo Alvarez at the weekend, a smaller audience than the streamer pulled for a Katie Taylor fight last year.
Underdog Crawford’s unanimous points victory over Canelo, for the undisputed super middleweight title, drew an estimated average minute audience of 36.6m watching live, rising to 41.4m when accounting for those watching delayed coverage.
That set a new record for a men’s championship boxing match this century, although it was less than half the 108m who streamed Jake Paul v Mike Tyson in November.
Irish great Taylor’s second bout in a trilogy of fights with Amanda Serrano, which was on the undercard of the Paul-Tyson show drew an AMA of 47m, making it the most watched women’s sporting event in US history.
Netflix said the peak simultaneous streaming audience for Crawford-Canelo surpassed 24m. Of the 36.6m live viewers, an estimated 20.3m were in the US.
Crawford-Canelo gate receipts stack up
Crawford-Canelo also drew a big in-person audience to the show at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with a crowd of more than 70,000 in attendance.
The fight generated $47m in gate receipts, making it the most lucrative boxing match not to feature Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather’s clash with Manny Pacquiao in May 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas earned $72m in ticket sales, while his contest against Irish MMA specialist Conor McGregor in August 2017 at T-Mobile Arena, also in Las Vegas, generated $55m.
American Crawford’s earning from his win over Canelo were dwarfed by those of the Mexican, however, who was looking to become the first man to become undisputed champion in three weight classes.
Crawford revealed before the fight that he was being paid $10m, with Canelo expected to bank $150m as part of a five-fight deal with Saudi sponsor Riyadh Season plus a cut of gate receipts and broadcast revenue.