This past weekend’s stunning lightweight battle between Vasyl Lomachenko and Jorge Linares did very well in the TV ratings department.

In fact, it topped any of the combat sports events this past weekend (including mixed martial arts).

Bob Arum’s new boxing on ESPN experiment continues to bode well for the sport and generated at peak audience of a whopping 1.75 million viewers in the US this weekend.

Something that pound for pound rated Vasyl Lomachenko needed in truth.

A fighter despite his incredible gifts whom is still not known to many outside of hardcore boxing circles.

But that’s changing.

Getting boxing back onto big platforms like ESPN (on TV and on their app) appears to be slowly but surely be having the desired effect of growing the sport in the US again.

Boxing is once again beating MMA in the TV ratings department and is being consumed by young men in their droves.

This past weekend’s fight between Lomachenko and Linares delivered in the action department too with knockdowns and ultimately a stoppage win for Lomachenko.

With Eddie Hearn’s new distribution deal also worth $1 billion in the US – the future bodes very well for American and world boxing indeed.