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Tyson Fury says mob boss Daniel Kinahan set-up his upcoming fights with Anthony Joshua.
The campaign to obscure Daniel Kinahan’s role as the suspected leader of the Kinahan Cartel, a billion dollar drug and gun trafficking empire, and market him as a boxing power breaker is in full swing.
In a video that was shared by BT Sport, WBC heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury announced his upcoming fight schedule and the role Kinahan played in setting it all up.
HUGE
Tyson Fury confirms he’s agreed a two-fight deal with Anthony Joshua in 2021.
First, he will finish the trilogy with Deontay Wilder. pic.twitter.com/gBVtMsGVWm
— Boxing on BT Sport (@BTSportBoxing) June 10, 2020
“Just after getting off the phone with Daniel Kinahan, he’s just informed me that the biggest fight in British boxing history has been agreed … Big shout out Dan, he got this done. Literally, over the line. Two fight deal, Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua next year. One problem, I just have to smash Deontay Wilder’s face right in, in the next fight. And then we go onto the Joshua fight next year. So there we are, the Gypsy King versus AJ is on for next year, but there’s a hurdle in the road called The Bronze Bomber aka The Knockout King, but I will get onto him and knock him spark out. And then we go onto the big fight. So big thank you Dan for getting this fight over the line.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn also confirmed to ESPN that “in principle” an agreement has been reached. Frank Warren, Fury’s main promoter, says no official fight contracts have been signed but the purse split for the first fight will be 50-50. In addition to Fury’s trilogy with Wilder, Joshua will also have to beat Kubrat Pulev later this year to assure this mega-fight is on for 2021.
“It’s fair to say [Joshua and Fury] are in agreement regarding the financial terms of the fight,” Hearn said. “We’ve been talking to [Fury’s management team] MTK, giving them the assurances from Joshua’s side that all the details on the structure of the deal is approved from our side. And it is from Fury’s side, as well.
“We’re in a good place. It’s fair to say that, in principle, both guys have agreed to that fight. Two fights.”
Irish courts and press outlets name ‘Dan’, the son of Kinahan criminal organization founder Christy Kinahan, as the man responsible for the day-to-day running of the cartel. Kinahan is currently based in Dubai. It is believed he moved to the middle east after a failed assassination attempt.
The failed hit happened in 2016 when gunmen opened fire at a boxing weigh-in inside the Regency Hotel in Dublin. David Byrne, a reported top lieutenant of the Kinahan group, was killed in the shooting.
It is believed the Regency Hotel shooting was committed by the Hutch Gang as retaliation for alleged Kinahan killings of Hutch family members. The bloody gang war between the Kinahans and the Hutchs started in 2015 after Gary Hutch (a former Kinahan associate) was executed in Spain. Gary Hutch was the nephew of Hutch Gang leader Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch.
Since moving to Dubai, Kinahan has been trying to use his profile in the world of boxing to distract from reports linking him to organized crime. Previously, though, his involvement in boxing was a poorly kept secret.
Kinahan is the founder of MTK Global, a company that manages Tyson Fury and many other elite boxers. MTK also represents UFC fighter Darren Till (who says he is a long time friend of Kinahan) and a slew of other MMA fighters. For years MTK has claimed that Kinahan had parted with the company, despite evidence showing he was still involved.
After Top Rank’s Bob Arum revealed in a recently released video that Kinahan was instrumental in a deal being made between Top Rank and MTK (which landed MTK a deal with ESPN+), MTK again tried to deny working with Kinahan.
Days later Kinahan was announced as a special advisor to Bahrain’s KHK Sports. Then KHK announced a partnership with MTK.
MTK and KHK are expected to host a global boxing summit this autumn somewhere in the middle east. The event provides another opportunity for Kinahan to continue the sportswashing of his image.