Isometric properties of relative bounded cohomology

Abstract: We show that the isomorphism induced by the inclusion of pairs $(X,\emptyset)\subset (X,Y)$ between the relative bounded cohomology of $(X,Y)$ and the bounded cohomology of $X$ is isometric in degree at least 2 if the fundamental group of each connected component of $Y$ is amenable. As an application we provide a self-contained proof of Gromov Equivalence theorem and a generalization of a result of Fujiwara and Manning on the simplicial volume of generalized Dehn fillings.