After a brief scare in the first round, Carl Frampton comprehensively defended his IBF super bantamweight title for a second time. ‘The Jackal’ outclassed the suprisingly game Alejandro González Jr. at the Don Haskins Centre in El Paso, Texas.

The matinee Premier Boxing Champions fight was shown live on prime time in Britain and Ireland via UTV, UTV Ireland and ITV. Today UTV released their viewing figures from Saturday night, and Frampton secured a peak audience of 381,000 – a 69% share of all households in Northern Ireland.

This figure is slightly down from the 457,000 audience peak and 79% share that tuned in in February for the Chris Avalos fight. That night also saw average audience of 303,000 and a share of 58% – average figures for the González fight have yet to be announced.

“El Paso was a long way to travel and for many fans it was a journey they couldn’t make, so UTV are delighted to have broadcast Saturday’s fight live, making sure no-one missed out” UTV Managing Director Michael Wilson explained

Happy with the figures, Wilson added: “It was a tough fight for Carl, but an exciting 12 rounds for viewers and the ratings show that, regardless of whether Carl is fighting home or away, the appetite is there to support him.”

Encouragingly, Wilson continued: “we will continue to look for opportunities to bring the world boxing ring to viewers, especially to support our home-grown talent.

Wilson concluded by giving “congratulations to Carl and all at Team Frampton on another successful win.”

Irish-boxing.com will bring news of CBS and UTV Ireland viewing figures when they emerge.