Bob Arum thinks Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor will not generate enough interest and viewership.
Jake Paul has teamed-up with promoter Eddie Hearn to make the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano undisputed championship bout a reality. The fight is set to happen on April 30, the same date as Top Rank's Shakur Stevenson vs. Oscar Valdez showdown.
Sharing his bold take on the subject to IFL TV, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said Taylor vs. Serrano is a "good fight" but the reality is that fans "don't pay attention" to women's boxing.
“As good a fight as that is, come on, whatever reason it is, people don't particularly pay attention to women's [boxing] fights,” Arum stressed.
Arum is well aware that his comments could cause a stir among women's boxing supporters. Hence, he quickly cleared the air and stressed that he was just trying to make a point.
“I don't want to be accused of being anti-women … but this is like the Premier League against the women's football," he added.
Watch Bob Arum's comments on the video below:
Taylor vs. Serrano is by far the biggest fight in women's boxing slated this year. Serrano will try to win all the Lightweight belts (WBA, WBO, IBF, WBC and The Ring) from the undisputed champion Taylor.
On the flipside, Stevenson vs. Valdez is a unification bout for the WBC and WBO Super-Featherweight titles.
Serrano, the challenger, is looking to become a multi-division champion, having previously defended her WBC, WBO and IBO Featherweight titles. She has a record of 42-1-1 and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Miriam Gutierrez.
Taylor, meanwhile, is arguably the greatest women's boxer in the world. She hopes to improve her unbeaten record of 20-0 and defend all the belts for the sixth time since becoming undisputed champion in 2020.
Eddie Hearn's take is completely the opposite of Bob Arum's
Eddie Hearn knows viewership can be affected when big fights share the same schedule. However, he remains unfazed about the possible conflict as he's confident Taylor vs. Serrano is more interesting than Stevenson vs. Valdez.
Contrary to Arum's speculation, Hearn is certain Taylor vs. Serrano is no mediocre fight and will "create shockwaves around the world."
“Valdez vs. Stevenson is a tremendous fight, [but] it’s not gonna cause the same kind of noise as Taylor vs. Serrano with me and Jake Paul," Hearn told DAZN. "When you see the noise around Madison Square Garden around a legacy-defining fight, not just for women’s boxing, but for boxing, I’m fine. You can’t try to work around other fights because next week there's another fight. What you can do is get smart, and ask TopRank ‘What time are you going? You go 10pm, we go 11pm.’ Is Stevenson vs. Valdez bigger than Taylor vs. Serrano? No, not in my opinion. This is going to be a showstopper. This is going to create shockwaves around the world.”