By Keith Idec

Caleb Plant’s first title defense drew more viewers than his championship victory six months earlier.

According to Nielsen Media Research, Plant’s third-round knockout of Mike Lee attracted a peak audience of 1,141,000 on Saturday night from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Their scheduled 12-round, 168-pound title bout was broadcast by FOX, just before the FOX Sports Pay-Per-View telecast of the Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman card began.

Plant’s previous fight – a 12-round, unanimous-decision win against Jose Uzcategui – peaked at 986,000 viewers January 13 from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The Plant-Uzcategui fight was televised by FS1, FOX’s all-sports, basic-cable channel. FS1 is available in approximately 83 million homes in the United States, roughly 37 million fewer than FOX.

In addition to airing on basic cable, as opposed to network television, the Plant-Uzcategui fight took place on a Sunday night, rare for a live boxing broadcast. That telecast benefited, though, from heavy promotion during an NFL playoff game on FOX that immediately preceded it.

On Saturday night, Plant easily defended his IBF super middleweight title for the first time.

The 27-year-old Plant (19-0, 11 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee, knocked down Lee three times – once in the first round and twice in the third – before referee Robert Byrd called an end to their fight at 1:29 of the third round. The 32-year-old Lee (21-1, 11 KOs), a Notre Dame graduate from Wheaton, Illinois, moved down from the light heavyweight division to challenge Plant for his 168-pound championship.

The opener of FOX’s doubleheader Saturday night, a 10-round heavyweight bout between Efe Ajagba and Ali Eren Demirezen, was watched by a peak audience of 901,000 viewers.

Ajagba (11-0, 9 KOs), a prospect from Nigeria, went the distance for the first time since he turned pro two years ago. Turkey’s Demiriezen (11-1, 10 KOs) lost a unanimous decision, but he tested the hard-hitting Ajagba at times.

FOX’s doubleheader aired from 7-9 p.m. ET/4-6 p.m. PT.

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