ESPN televised a much more compelling main event Tuesday night, but viewership was only slightly higher than it was for its previous boxing broadcast on a weeknight.

Nielsen Media Research revealed Wednesday that the network’s three-hour, 31-minute telecast Tuesday night was watched by an average of 310,000 viewers. The peak audience of 390,000 tuned in toward the conclusion of the main event, Joshua Franco’s upset of Andrew Moloney in their 12-round, 115-pound title fight at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

ESPN’s previous weeknight show, which aired Thursday night from MGM Grand Conference Center, attracted a peak audience of 382,000 and an average audience of 305,000.

The main event of Thursday’s card, Gabe Flores Jr.’s easy victory over Josec Ruiz, was supposed to open ESPN’s five-fight broadcast. Their 10-round lightweight bout was elevated to the main event Thursday morning because the Jose Pedraza-Mikkel LesPierre bout was postponed once LesPierre’s manager, Josie Taveras, testing positive for COVID-19.

The 10-round junior welterweight battle between Puerto Rico’s Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) and Brooklyn’s LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs) has been rescheduled for July 2 at MGM Grand Conference Center.

Pedraza and LesPierre will have a tough time matching the type of entertainment Franco and Moloney produced during their WBA world super flyweight title fight. San Antonio’s Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs) overcame a slow start, took complete control in the final four rounds and scored an 11th-round knockdown on his way to winning a majority decision over Australia’s Moloney (21-1, 14 KOs).

In the co-featured fight of ESPN’s four-bout broadcast, Puerto Rican featherweight Christopher Diaz (26-2, 16 KOs) out-boxed Jason Sanchez (15-1, 8 KOs), of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to win a 10-round unanimous decision.

ESPN will televise live boxing again Thursday night, starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Australia’s Jason Moloney (20-1, 17 KOs), Andrew’s twin brother, will meet Mexico’s Leonardo Baez (18-2, 9 KOs, 1 NC) in the main event, a 10-round bantamweight bout. The six-bout broadcast also will include a 10-round lightweight bout in which Abraham Nova (18-0, 14 KOs), of Albany, New York, will face Philadelphia’s Avery Sparrow (10-1, 3 KOs, 1 NC). 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.