By Keith Idec

Erislandy Lara’s fight Saturday night drew a slightly higher peak audience than his previous appearance on Showtime, the Boxing Writers Association of America’s “Fight of the Year” for 2018.

According to viewership figures released by Nielsen Media Research, Lara’s 12-round split draw with Brian Castano attracted a peak audience of 530,000. The peak number was drawn toward the end of their main event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

An average audience of 487,000 watched their highly competitive, back-and-forth fight for Castano’s WBA world super welterweight title.

Lara’s loss to Jarrett Hurd drew a peak viewership of 521,000 last April 7 from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. That bout between Hurd, who knocked down Lara during the 12th round and won a split decision, lured 490,000 viewers on average.

The Castano-Lara fight ended about 30 minutes earlier on the East Coast than the Hurd-Lara bout began last year (12:43 a.m. ET).

Before facing Castano (15-0-1, 11 KOs), the 35-year-old Lara (25-3-3, 14 KOs) hadn’t boxed in the nearly 11 months since Hurd defeated him. Argentina’s Castano, 29, made his debut in a main event on American premium cable television against Lara, a former WBA 154-pound champion who, before boxing Hurd, often had drawn criticism from factions of fans for his tactical style.

The aggressive, rugged Castano pressed Lara throughout their bout. He was effective at times to Lara’s head and body, but the experienced southpaw from Cuba landed regularly with his left hand and often kept Castano out of punching range by moving both backward and laterally.

Judge Kevin Morgan scored seven rounds for Castano (115-113). Judge John McKaie credited Lara with winning seven rounds (115-113). Judge Julie Lederman scored their encounter even (114-114).

According to Showtime’s unofficial punch statistics, Castano connected on 65 more overall punches (195-of-863 to 130-of-825) and more power punches (181-of-668 to 103-of-301). Those stats suggested Lara landed more jabs (27-of-524 to 14-of-195).

The co-featured fight Saturday night, Cuban heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz’s 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over Christian Hammer, attracted a peak viewership of 430,000. Ortiz’s previous appearance live on Showtime, a second-round knockout of Razvan Cojanu, peaked at 606,000 viewers July 28 from Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Miami’s Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) beat Germany’s Hammer (24-6, 14 KOs) by big margins on all three scorecards. He won all 10 rounds on one card (100-90) and nine rounds on the other two cards (99-91, 99-91).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.