Juan Manuel Marquez-Mike Alavarado draws big ratings

May

HBO's broadcast of Juan Manuel Marquez's unanimous decision over welterweight rival Mike Alvarado at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., generated an audience of 1,198,000 viewers with a peak viewership of 1,322,000, making it the second most watched bout on cable so far in 2014, according to Nielsen Media Research on Tuesday.

A four-division titlewinner who turns 41 in August, Marquez, in victory, became the mandatory challenger to Manny Pacquiao, whose unanimous decision over Tim Bradley last month regained the WBO 147-pound belt he lost by split decision to Bradley in June 2012.

Marquez also rebounded from October's split decision loss to then-WBO beltholder Bradley, quelling the momentum built by his sixth-round stoppage of Pacquiao in December 2012. Marquez is 1-2-1 against Pacquiao.

On the undercard, junior welterweight Viktor Postol scored an 11th-round knockout of Selcuk Aydin, who was stopped for the first time in his career. Postol-Aydin registered 1,002,000 viewers with a peak of 1,137,000 viewers, making it the fifth most watched bout on cable in 2014.

A Ukrainian, Postol had last been in action for a unanimous decision over Behzod Nabiev in December. In victory over Aydin, Postal may have earned a shot to face RING/WBA/WBC 140-pound champion Danny Garcia.