Peak audience of 746,000 tuned in for British heavyweight clash

Fabio Wardley v Frazer Clarke boxing Sky Sports Boxxer

Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke’s tied bout reached 1.7 million viewers on Sky Sports.

The clash between the unbeaten British fighters saw a peak audience of 746,000 and average of 438,000 across the whole four-hour broadcast - which was shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action on 31 March. 

This makes the fight the fifth most watched boxing event on Sky Sports in the last 10 years, behind only Eubank-Williams, Shields-Marshall, Khan-Vargas and Taylor-Catterall, and the biggest audience for a heavyweight fight.

The undercard also included Chris Kongo overcome welterweight rival Florian Marku, Viddal Riley retain his English Cruiserweight Title against Mikael Lawal, Ben Whittaker drop and dominate Leon Wilings, Callum Simspon score a showreel knockout win over Dulla Mbabe, and Alen Babic stop Steve Robinson. 

Ben Shalom, founder of promotor Boxxer and CEO, said: “What we witnessed on Sunday was one of the greatest British heavyweight fights of all time. At Boxxer we are committed to growing the sport to new audiences and giving our fighters the biggest possible platform to perform. The numbers are incredible. It shows the huge potential and appetite for boxing in the UK and Ireland. We’ve had an amazing start to the year and we look forward to delivering more massive nights with unmissable action in 2024.”

Rob Selmes, Sky Sports director of rights, said: “It was great to see such a thrilling fight for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles, immense bravery from both fighters and huge numbers tuning in to watch. A compelling card was part of a fantastic weekend of live sport on Sky Sports, with millions of sports fans enjoying our coverage and being taken closer to all the action.”

Wardley v Clarke was shown as part of Sky Sports’ deal with promotors Boxxer and Top Rank, which started in 2021 and runs until 2025. The broadcaster’s next fight from Boxxer will be Lauren Price and Jessica McCaskill facing off for Welterweight World Titles in Cardiff on 11 May.