By Keith Idec

More viewers watched Top Rank’s boxing show live on ESPN last weekend than the card it aired the previous Saturday night.

Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday stated Top Rank’s doubleheader Saturday night from Philadelphia averaged 655,000 viewers. The telecast peaked at 832,000 viewers during the main event – WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk’s fifth-round, technical-knockout victory over Doudou Ngumbu at 2300 Arena.

Top Rank’s prior doubleheader attracted an average of just 510,000 viewers March 23 from The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California. That card, headlined by heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev’s seventh-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu, attracted much more attention after it aired due to a controversy caused by Pulev kissing Las Vegas Sports Daily reporter Jennifer Ravalo at the end of a recorded interview in Pulev’s dressing room (https://www.boxingscene.com/pulev-i-never-grabbed-reporters-backside-i-other-videos--137589).

Top Rank’s two-hour show Saturday night benefited from a strong lead-in, a three-hour UFC show from Philadelphia that averaged 828,000 viewers. The UFC and Top Rank shows each had to contend with strong sports competition on television from NCAA men’s basketball tournament games broadcast by CBS and TBS.

Ukraine’s Gvozdyk was beating Ghana’s Ngumbu in a relatively uneventful fight, until Ngumbu suffered what was described as an injury to his right Achilles’ tendon during the fifth round. The 31-year-old Gvozdyk (17-0, 14 KOs) was a 100-1 favorite over the 37-year-old Ngumbu (38-9, 14 KOs), who collapsed in a neutral corner after the bout ended and had to be consoled.

In the opener of ESPN’s broadcast, welterweights Egidjius Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17 KOs) and Ray Robinson (24-3-1, 12 KOs) battled to a 10-round majority draw.

Judge Rose Lacend scored their competitive fight 97-93 in favor of Philadelphia’s Robinson. Lacend was overruled by the two other judges, Dave Braslow and Kevin Morgan, each of whom scored their encounter even (95-95).

The draw could impact Kavaliauskas’ pursuit of a shot at Terence Crawford later this year.

The unbeaten Ukrainian is ranked No. 1 among the WBO’s welterweight contenders for Crawford’s championship. His performance versus Robinson could render him a tough sell, however, as Crawford’s next opponent if the unbeaten three-division champion defeats England’s Amir Khan on April 20 at Madison Square Garden.

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