Daniel Kinahan: who is the Irish ‘mob boss’ with links to boxing, drugs and crime? 

When Tyson Fury spoke to reporters ahead of this weekend’s fight against Dillian Whyte, the “Gypsy King” was asked the usual boxing questions in the press conference at Wembley. How was his training camp? How well has he prepared? What’s it been like building up to a world title defence back home in the UK? 

He was also asked about his alleged links to Daniel Kinahan, the Irish businessman and reported gang leader, who along with seven members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) have been placed under sanctions by the US Treasury. 

Fury did “not just address the elephant in the room”, said Jeff Powell in the Daily Mail. He “rode it to trample over any suggestion that he has ever been involved in any criminal activity” with the Irishman.

When Sky Sports asked what was his relationship with Kinahan and going forward, Fury said: “I’ve just had a million questions about this rubbish before, but like I’ve said to them, it’s none of my business, and I don’t get involved in others’ business, so it doesn’t really concern me.”

Boxing influence now ‘waning’

Kinahan, the alleged leader of the notorious drug cartel run by his family, has for years “enjoyed huge power in the sport”, but “his influence is now waning”, said Donald McRae in The Guardian. “It has become a source of embarrassment and shame for boxing.” 

Boxing management firm MTK Global, which was co-founded by Kinahan in 2012, has this week announced that it will cease operations at the end of the month. 

In a statement released on Wednesday, MTK Global said it had faced “unprecedented levels of unfair scrutiny and criticism” since the sanctions were imposed, Sky News reported. The company, which had previously listed boxers including Fury and Billy Joe Saunders among its fighters, added that “it is a matter of public record that Mr Kinahan’s involvement in MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated reassurances in this regard, unfounded allegations about his ongoing association with us and our fighters persist”.

When asked if he still had any business with Kinahan, Fury said: “Zero, absolutely zero. It’s none of my business. I keep my own business to myself, that’s it. Has it been a distraction? Not really, it’s got nowt to do with me, has it?”

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/crime/956516/daniel-kinahan-irish-mob-boss-links-to-boxing-drugs-crime