Teofimo Lopez-Josh Taylor was the most-watched boxing main event on network or cable television in the United States in 2023.

Nielsen Media Research revealed figures Tuesday that indicated ESPN’s viewership for Lopez-Taylor peaked at 980,000 on Saturday night from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Their 12-round, 140-pound championship match, which Lopez won by unanimous decision, was watched by an average audience of 945,000.

ESPN’s two-bout broadcast, which lasted two hours and 23 minutes, drew an average viewership of 781,000. It began with unbeaten junior middleweight Xander Zayas’ eight-round, unanimous-decision victory over Ronald Cruz.

Nielsen’s viewership numbers include only those who watched Lopez-Taylor on linear television because Nielsen doesn’t track streaming audiences. ESPN also doesn’t disclose how many viewers watch programming on ESPN+, the network’s $9.99-per-month streaming service.

Prior to Saturday night, the Shakur Stevenson-Shuichiro Yoshino fight drew the biggest boxing audience this year on U.S. television. Stevenson’s sixth-round stoppage of Japan’s Yoshino in a WBC lightweight eliminator attracted a peak audience of 871,000 and an average audience of 827,000 on April 8 from Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.

Two months later, the Brooklyn-born Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) rejuvenated his career by beating Taylor convincingly to win the WBO junior welterweight title.

The former unified lightweight champion became the first fighter to defeat Scotland’s Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs), a southpaw who was the undisputed 140-pound champion before he gave up the IBF, WBA and WBC titles last year. Judges Steve Gray (115-113) and Joe Pasquale (115-113) scored Lopez-Taylor closer than Benoit Roussel (117-111), yet even Taylor acknowledged that Lopez’s win is indisputable.

Taylor was an approximate 2-1 favorite over Lopez before their fight Saturday night, in part because Lopez struggled at times during a 10-round, split-decision defeat of Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin in his previous fight December 10 at Madison Square Garden. Lopez’s hand speed, intelligence and athleticism troubled Taylor, however, particularly during the second half of their fight.

The 25-year-old Lopez punctuated his superb performance by dominating Taylor during the completely one-sided 11th and 12th rounds.

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