Gennady Golovkin, right, stopped Marco Antonio Rubio in the second round Saturday/Photo by Associated Press
The Gennady Golovkin-Marco Antonio Rubio middleweight main event Saturday at StubHub Center drew an HBO viewing crowd of 1,304,000 viewers, making it the second-highest premium cable boxing event of 2014.
Golovkin, of Kazakhstan, stopped Mexico’s Rubio in the second round and is now 31-0 with 28 knockouts. It was his 18th knockout in succession.
Golovkin’s middleweight belt was not on the line because Rubio failed to make the 160-pound weight limit a day earlier, coming in at 161.8.
The event also drew 9,323 in live attendance, a sellout and a record for boxing at the venue.
“This past Saturday night’s atmosphere at the StubHub Center truly captured the passion that Gennady’s fans have for him,” said Tom Loeffler, managing director of K2 Promotions, which promotes Golovkin. “In two years, Gennady has become boxing’s biggest must-see attraction and we expect 2015 to catapult him to even greater heights.”
Golovkin first fought in the U.S. in September 2012.
The Golovkin-Rubio fight will be replayed tonight (Tuesday) on HBO at 10:05 p.m. (Pacific time).