Boxing News: RTÉ have reported healthy viewing figures for Bernard Dunne's last professional fight in Dublin's National Stadium earlier this year.
In the network's first coverage of professional boxing since the days of Barry McGuigan 19 years ago, they recorded a 15 to 16 per cent share of audience.
Featherweight fighter Dunne, who headed the bill and who fights again in another televised event on May 14th against Ukrainian southpaw Yuri Voronin, shared the stage with well-known Irish names such as Francis Barrett and Jim Rock. Overall the package attracted an audience peak of 182,000 for Dunne's fight against England's Jim Betts while the programme figure averaged 150,000 people.
This compares with Heineken European Cup rugby figures of a 21.6 per cent audience share for the Leinster v Leicester quarter-final in Lansdowne Road. That share, which is a percentage of the people watching television at the time, equates to an audience of 164,000. The Leicester v Toulouse European Cup semi-final drew a 13.7 per cent share, or 83,000 people.
"I felt it was an untapped market," says Glen Killane, head of RTÉ Sport. "It went out at 10.45pm, which is nearly at the end-of-peak viewing time. I would have been happy with a percentage share in double figures. I would say that 10 per cent would have justified us being interested. The figures recorded of 15 to 16 per cent I'd say are very healthy.
"It's a new departure for us. I'd heard and read about Bernard Dunne last year and spoke to Mick Dowling about him. I felt that Irish people are interested in boxing and it was essential that we kept it terrestrial. I think the next bout will be far better and I expect it to be more entertaining. It will be a tougher fight and will gauge where he is going."
Voronin holds the number seven slot in the European Boxing Union's featherweight rankings and a win for former Trinity College student Dunne would move him a step closer to a European title fight, possibly against England's Nicky Cook later in the year.
"Prince" Naseem Hamed, the former WBO world featherweight boxing champion, was released on bail yesterday after a man was seriously injured in a car crash involving the boxer's car in Sheffield, England.
