Jake Paul has welcomed Bob Arum's drastic change in stance on women's boxing after announcing Mikaela Mayer will fight Alycia Baumgardner.
Arum had previously stunned Paul with comments about the level of interest in Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano, which the YouTuber-turned-boxer teamed up with Eddie Hearn to promote last month. The Top Rank boss was going head-to-head to Hearn and Paul with Shakur Stevenson's unified super-featherweight title fight against Oscar Valdez on the same night.
And in a pre-fight interview, Arum argued that there would be minimal interest in the women's bout due to their gender, with a bigger audience expected for Stevenson vs Valdez. However, ratings on ESPN for the men's fight ended up falling just short of the DAZN viewing figures for Taylor vs Serrano.
At the time, Arum said in an interview with iFL TV : “As good a fight as that is, come on, for whatever reason it is, people don’t particularly pay attention to the women fights. The answer is ESPN made the schedule and they couldn’t care less.
“I don’t want to denigrate fights, I don’t want to be accused of being anti-women in sports, but I’m telling you, this is like the Premier League against women’s football.”
And now his tune has changed drastically, which Paul has welcomed in a new social media post. He tweeted: "Bob Arum went from saying 'no one cares about women’s boxing' to talking about 'Mayer’s prodigious talent, Baumgardner is a worthy champion, and this is a huge event.'
"Welcome to 2022 Bob. Glad you're giving these champs the push they deserve. Congrats to both Mikaela and Alycia." In a press release about the super featherweight title fight, Arum was quoted as saying that "Mikaela Mayer's prodigious talent is only matched by her tremendous ambition."
"She wants the biggest fights," he continued. "And Alycia Baumgardner is a worthy champion. This is a huge event and one of the most anticipated matchups in women's boxing."
Do you agree with Jake Paul's assessment of the Mayer vs Baumgardner fight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Mayer and Baumgardner had been trading insults over social media for months in the lead-up to the fight announcement, which was made on Monday. No date or venue has been confirmed as yet, but it is expected to take place in August or September.
Paul had previously been furious at Arum's take on Taylor vs Serrano, saying that “men like this dinosaur [Arum] are the reason women haven’t been given a fair shake in many parts of society."
He even pulled Mayer herself into the discussion, adding: “I feel sorry for Mikaela Mayer – she deserves better. And he says ESPN doesn’t care about the biggest women’s boxing event in history Taylor vs Serrano will make history with or without you.”
Ultimately, Taylor vs Serrano sold more tickets at Madison Square Garden in New York than Stevenson vs Valdez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It also performed better in viewership on the DAZN platform than the men's bout did on ESPN, which has a considerably bigger reach.
