By Keith Idec

It could’ve been Dillian Whyte’s spectacular knockout.

It might’ve been that it aired in prime time. Or it could’ve been a combination of the two.

Regardless, HBO’s same-day replay of Dillian Whyte’s sixth-round knockout of Lucas Browne drew higher ratings Saturday than the network’s live telecast of that heavyweight bout.

According to ratings revealed Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research, the Whyte-Browne replay, which was televised at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, drew a peak audience of 490,000 viewers Saturday night. An average viewership of 427,000 watched HBO’s second showing of the Whyte-Browne bout.

The live broadcast, which began at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, attracted 444,000 viewers at its peak. An average audience of 387,000 watched the live Whyte-Browne broadcast, which included just one fight.

Saturday’s ratings are lower than usual for HBO’s boxing broadcasts. An early start to the telecast on the East Coast, coupled with the fact that neither England’s Whyte nor Australia’s Browne had appeared on HBO prior to Saturday, seemingly impacted viewership.

The live broadcast also aired at the same time as the first half of an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game in which Loyola (Chicago) beat Kansas State to earn a trip to the Final Four. Loyola-Kansas State, which aired on TBS, was watched by an average of 7,794,000 viewers.

Those that tuned in watched Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs) mostly beat up Browne (25-1, 22 KOs) for five-plus rounds. The Jamaican-born, London-based Whyte ended their one-sided bout by blasting Browne with a left hook early in the sixth round that knocked Browne unconscious and left the Australian contender on the canvas, face-first, until medical personnel could help a battered, bloodied Browne to his corner.

Whyte, who has lost only to British superstar Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), remains the WBC’s No. 1 heavyweight contender. He hopes to battle unbeaten WBC champ Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) in his next bout, but the WBC hasn’t named him Wilder’s mandatory challenger.

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