Daniel Kinahan's boxing promoter pal slammed for 'disgusting' Katie Taylor fight comments
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum claimed that people don't "pay attention" to women's boxing
Bob Arum and Daniel Kinahan
The veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum, who is a close friend of mobster Daniel Kinahan, has been slammed for comments made about women's boxing following the announcement of the Katie Taylor fight.
Speaking in an interview after the historic undisputed clash between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano was confirmed, the Top Rank promoter claimed that people don't "pay attention" to women's boxing.
As the Taylor Vs Serrano showdown is staged in April, it will likely clash with a unification bout between Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson that Arum is organising with Top Rank on the same night.
But Arum (90) who has previously defended working with Kinahan and has publicly described him as "an honourable man”, claimed not to be worried about a split audience as he dismissed women’s boxing.
However, the comments have not gone down well within the boxing fraternity with former professional boxer, the American Sergio Mora blaming a generation gap for Arum’s views.
Influence: Boxing promoter Bob Arum. JOHN GURZINSKI/AFP/Getty Images
"Of course, I don’t agree with it, but I’m from a different generation,” Mora told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated on the DAZN Boxing show.
"Bob Arum was born in the 30s, he’s 90-years-old, there’s a huge generational gap.
"I’m not excusing that Mannix, disgusting is disgusting, those comments, you can’t tolerate that now we’ve come so far in women’s boxing.
"We know what they can do, they’re headlining Madison Square Garden where Muhamad Ali fought, where the greats fought and we have to give them their props.
"I think Bob Arum as great as he is as a promoter, he’s been in the game a long time, he’s a ‘Bobfather’, everyone loves him, he was wrong here, I think if you give him a chance, he’ll admit that."
"It’s just an outdated argument," Mannix agreed.
"Now ten years ago, while it still would’ve been a little condescending, it would’ve been completely accurate because ten years ago, women’s boxing wasn’t in the place it’s in right now.
"In the 1990s and early 2000s, women’s boxing wasn’t so much about the fights as the occasional fighters.
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"In the nineties you had Christine Martin who occasionally found her way onto a big show, in the early 2000s you had Laila Ali, people watched them when they watched them, just to see them.
"Now you not only have notable fighters, you have notable fights.
"Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano is the biggest at the moment in women’s boxing, but it’s not the only big fight in women’s boxing, at some point this year you’re going to get Savannah Marshall against Claressa Shields, that’s a big showdown in the upper weight classes.
Katie Taylor
"Women’s boxing, while not on the level of men, is certainly light years better than what it used to be so it shouldn’t be cause for sniffing at the idea it could compete with the calibre of a fight like Valdez and Shakur."
Mora pointed out that women have had to break down so many barriers to get the sport to where it is today and there doesn't seem to be any sign of women's boxing slowing down anytime soon.
"They’ve had to knock down barriers," Mora stated.
"They still fight two-minute rounds, they want to fight three-minute rounds, they want to get paid more money, they want more main events, they want to be considered more, they’re getting all that in due time because they’re fighting.
Katie Taylor will headline at Madison Square Gardens in April (Zac Goodwin/PA)
"You’ve got to credit Eddie Hearn for not being the first promoter to do it, but he’s putting women championship fights on every card, Bob Arum is certainly not doing that."
It was also recently revealed how Arum is facing claims that his “revolting racial bias” prevented Welterweight champion Terence Crawford from landing big fights and earning tens of millions of dollars
The fighter, who has hired top attorney Bryan Freedman and is suing for almost $10 million, also claims that Arum deliberately failed to build him into a pay-per-view star.
Arum has issued a statement claiming Bud Crawford's lawsuit against Top Rank is frivolous.
Arum, who has managed the likes of Muhammed Ali, previously praised Kinahan who now passes himself off as an "adviser" to young boxers, for securing a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
In an interview on Newstalk Breakfast last year, when Kinahan’ s background story was put to Arum, he dismissed the allegations, saying he only judges Kinahan for his interactions in boxing.
"Those are allegations and I don't know anything about that, and his dealings with us have been solely about Tyson Fury and the sport of boxing,” Arum said.
"And if anybody asks me, I would say without any question, that I find him to be an honourable man.
"Whatever the other allegations are and so forth - whether they're true or not true - I can't get into, and I'm not going to get into, because it's none of my business.
"He has developed a great deal of trust with my company, myself and our people.
"He certainly is a trusted confident of Tyson Fury - so obviously his participation and his views were most significant and most important in getting this off the ground."
Mr Arum also said that not only is he (Kinahan) intelligent... but he is "dead honest and forthright and he's a no-nonsense guy".
"You don't waste a lot of time beating around the bush with him," he added.
"Everything that he has told us and every promise that he's made to us, he's more than fulfilled - and I think he would say the same thing about us."
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