Golden Boy Boxing Show Hit 17 Million Reactions on Facebook, Looking for More

A pair of non-title fights co-headlined by Jojo Diaz and Jonathan Navarro generated more than 17 million reactions on Facebook.com.

“The numbers are very similar to what they do with Major League Baseball,” said Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions that staged the fight card two weeks ago in Hollywood. “To see a major player like Facebook get involved in the sport of boxing, it’s good for everyone.”

Up next to bat: Ryan “The Flash” Garcia (15-0, 13 KOs) meets fellow prospect Carlos “The Solution” Morales (17-2-3, 6 KOs) on Sept. 1, at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio. Facebook.com will stream the Golden Boy fight card from the desert region.

With over 2.3 billion active users on Facebook.com, the first joint venture on August 11 between the social media giant and Golden Boy Promotions was just a toe dip into the warm waters of professional boxing.

“They (Facebook) are very happy with the first show, it was very successful. Only time will tell if they remain interested,” said Gomez. “We we’re negotiating and talking with them for a year and finally convinced them. They were actually approached by 20 other promoters.”

With popular 20-year-old phenomenon Garcia headlining the next show, expectations have been raised. Racing like a speeding bullet, the Victorville prizefighter has passed a small army of prospects in the super featherweight division. In his last appearance at Fantasy Springs he sold out the venue. It was his first time headlining a show.

“When they asked me to do Facebook I got excited because that’s big because it has a platform that reaches millions of people,” said Garcia whose Instagram.com social media account has reached over 1 million followers. “All my fans are the new generation. We all know that everyone uses their phones for everything, now they can watch them for boxing.”

With the initial streamed fight generating 17.7 million reactions, the fight between Garcia and Morales could easily surpass those numbers the second time around. Fans are slowly getting accustomed to watching fights on their cell phones.

Gomez said that the 17.7 million reactions represent views, impressions, basically anything that generated a reaction to the streamed fight.

“Was it on your screen?” said Gomez. “Everything is recorded by Facebook.”

Garcia, who captured the NABF and NABO super featherweight title by knockout of Fernando Vargas last March and then defeated Jayson Velez by decision this past May, told the Golden Boy Radio Live hosts that he’s excited about his fight and the new broadcast platform.

“Carlos is a very experienced fighter who has been out there against top opposition. It’s going to be a tough fight for me. We’re going to see what it’s all about,” said Garcia. “All my friends and fans can see me now on their phones if they can’t be there.”

Is this just the start?

With Top Rank streaming fights on ESPN+, Match Room Boxing on DAZN and DiBella Entertainment on Showtime’s YouTube page, boxing’s exploration into the streaming frontier has fully unfurled its sails.

Photo: Jojo Diaz (on the right) and Jesus Rojas face off before their Aug. 11 fight on Facebook.

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