It will take a while, but Hawaii’s female pugilists will finally have some serious purses and belts to fight for.

If 2022 is remembered for anything in the annals of the sweet science, it will be known as the year the women took over and showed everything the maligned sport has going for it.

It started in January when legendary promoter Bob Arum opened his mouth to say that “people don’t particularly pay attention to women’s boxing” and compared it to the Premier League vs. women’s soccer. That led to fellow promoter Jake Paul to call the 90-year-old a dinosaur and laugh all the way to the bank when women’s champions Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano sold out Madison Square Garden for their fracas in April and delivered what is a lock for Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year.

Even Arum quickly jumped on board after that, getting Mikaela Mayer — the only woman on his roster — into a sold-out event at London’s O2 Arena against Alycia Baumgardner before Claressa Shields beat Savannah Marshall in the main event.

Arum, who famously once said in a bar in Syracuse, N.Y., “Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth,” made the sport what it is today (for better or worse).

He is in on female boxing now, signing Seniesa Estrada just two months after the Taylor fight. Judging by the fact that he sat ringside for every fight on Tyson Fury’s seven-fight card in 40 degree weather on Saturday, Arum is immortal and will be holding sway over the sport forever.

Welcome aboard, Bobfather, it took me a while to get here as well. Women’s boxing has been on the fringe of the sport forever, and it was not pretty. For every Lucia Rijker and Laila Ali there were dozens of opponents not fit to fight them, and when they did they showed all the skill of Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky movies. If you ever caught the shameful moment when Estrada knocked out Miranda Adkins in seven seconds in 2020, Adkins was the “then’ and Estrada is the “now.” And “now” is so much better.

Hawaii has had its share of women break through in the pro ranks in the dark ages, but they didn’t have a Taylor to follow. Lisa Holewyne was born in Hawaii and lost to and later married Hall of Famer Christy Martin. Kuulei Kupihea ended her career with a TKO loss to all-time great Cecilia Braekhus. Eileen “The Hawaiian Mongoose” Olszewski won three world titles after turning pro at 38 years old. Casey “The Lady Hawaiian Punch” Morton is still active and chasing her third title shot.

Unfortunately, the girls are only improving their own lot. The men are still the big draw and always will be, but they could learn a lesson from the ladies. While Errol Spence and Terence Crawford dance with everyone except each other and Ryan Garcia does the bulk of his fighting on Twitter, the best women actually seek each other out and routinely give fans what they want most: the best fighting the best.

That’s what made the 1980s so glorious for the game. The Four Kings (Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran) challenged each other, and Alexis Arguello had no qualms with getting into the ring with Aaron Pryor. Now we only have Tyson Fury, Devin Haney and Canelo Alvarez taking on all comers, and I don’t see any males coming up behind them who share their attitude.

Let’s hope that the women never change when they start making as much money as the men. I don’t think they will — they seem to care about legacy and setting a path for little girls all over the world to follow.

Hawaii has a sizeable chunk of girls looking for inspiration, with a slew of athletes ranked No. 1 in the nation at their age and a few judged the one to beat in more than one weight class. Angelique Tangaro is tops at 65 and 70 pounds, Teeko Cottrell reigns at 101 and 106 and Zahriah Cottrell is supreme at 132 and 138. Waianae flyweight Shera Mae Patricio is the standard bearer on Team USA.

If one of those girls, or any of the many they share a gym with, goes on to collect a paycheck for pursuing their passion, here’s hoping they look back to 2022 and thank Taylor, Shields and Arum for dragging the sport into more enlightened times.