A mass brawl involving members of the Traveller community sent three people to the hospital.
Billy Joe Saunders, a recent opponent of Canelo Alvarez, has denied any involvement in a mass brawl that occurred in Warwickshire, England recently. That brawl involved members of the Traveller community, a group Saunders belongs to, and resulted in three people requiring hospitalization.
The brawl reportedly featured one individual being ‘glassed’ in the face and another being stabbed through the hand with a knife.
A YouTube video uploaded by a man who claimed to be at the brawl accused Saunders of being responsible for the stabbing (per British Boxing News).
“Billy Joe, you pulled a knife, you drived it straight through my son’s hand and out the far side,” alleged the man in the video. “He had a better chance of being world champion boxer than you, god knows where his future’s gone now with the injury you give him in his hand. You drove a knife straight through his hand. You pulled a gun and you stuck it in my Patrick’s face. He told you to pull the trigger but you never had the balls. You never had the balls to pull the trigger.”
Saunders took to social media to call such claims “complete rubbish” (per Birmingham Live). Saunders added that he would be happy to answer questions from the police if he was contacted.
This is not the first time Saunders has been linked to alleged criminality. The boxer has repeatedly praised MTK Global founder Daniel Kinahan as a close personal friend and trusted advisor.
Irish courts have named Kinahan as the leader of a billion dollar criminal organization that is responsible for drug and weapon trafficking across Europe. The so-called Kinahan Organized Crime Group (sometimes referred to as The Kinahan Cartel) is also believed to be responsible for a number of targeted assassinations across Ireland and Spain in connection to a feud with a group known as the Hutch Gang.
MTK, now one of the most powerful companies in world boxing, has claimed for years that Kinahan no longer works with them. However, many MTK fighters, such as Tyson Fury and Darren Till, have claimed that Kinahan still advises them in their careers.
Last year Fury went so far as to thank Kinahan for arranging a two-fight deal to face Anthony Joshua. After that news broke, Ireland’s government called for a boycott of any Fury fights that featured some sort of involvement from Kinahan.
Since then Fury has claimed he would no longer work with Kinahan. The fallout from that news also led to Kinahan, who is believed to reside in Dubai, losing his role as special advisor for Bahrain’s KHK Sports.
The blowback against Kinahan was furthered by a BBC documentary titled ‘Boxing and the mob’ which claimed Kinahan remained in control of MTK.
Around this time Saunders reached out to one of Ireland’s top crime journalists and attempted to trade access to him for a positive story involving Kinahan.
This May Saunders saw his perfect 30-0 record spoiled by Alvarez. Saunders lost that fight after he retired in the eighth round due to a broken orbital bone.