UK papers report that Kynoch Boxing Promotions and Management is connected to the Kinahan Organized Crime Group.
A few weeks ago MTK Global, one of the most powerful companies in world combat sports, sensationally announced that it would cease operations. The company, which represented Tyson Fury, Billy Joe Saunders, Darren Till and Aleksandar Rakic, said it was folding because of intense scrutiny regarding their links to Daniel Kinahan.
Kinahan has been sanctioned by the US government, who accuse him of running a billion dollar cocaine cartel. In 2012 Kinahan founded MGM Marbella, the company that would later become MTK. He has remained (despite MTK’s claims) an advisor for the company’s top talent, as evidenced by high-profile shout-outs from Fury, Till and others.
With MTK folding, media attention in the UK is pivoting to other companies that are allegedly tied to Kinahan. One of those is the boxing and MMA promotion Probellum, which featured cards filled with MTK clients. Probellum’s UK trademarks were registered by MTK. However, MTK and Probellum have claimed they are not formally linked. Probellum has also claimed it will heed US sanctions and not have any dealings with Kinahan.
Scotland’s Daily Record is claiming this week that Glasgow-based Kynoch Boxing Promotions and Management is another company that is connected to Kinahan. That paper reported that Sam Kynoch founded MGM Scotland in 2015 to act as a ‘sister gym’ to Kinahan’s MGM Marbella in Spain.
The report also states that Kynoch was appointed managing director of MTK by Kinahan himself in 2017. In 2018 Kynoch established Kynoch Promotions.
Kynoch Promotions represents Hannah Rankin, one of Scottish boxing’s brightest stars. The company holds shows throughout Scotland, most recently at Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel last Friday.
Scotland’s shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay has called for investigations into alleged Kinahan connected boxing shows in Scotland.
“Over recent years it has become increasingly difficult for the Kinahans to stage shows in Ireland because the authorities created such a hostile environment but also because they would likely have become targets of extreme violence,” he said referencing the 2016 Regency Hotel Attack which saw gunmen attack an MGM weigh-in show.
“It is therefore repugnant that Scotland seems to be such a soft touch. Clear links can be drawn between the Kinahan cartel and those staging these events in Glasgow and Dundee, two cities that continue to be devastated by drugs.”
Findlay added that he hoped Scotland’s authorities would continue to work with the US in hampering the Kinahan Organized Crime Group and ensure that “Scotland is not a safe haven” for the outfit.
“The Kinahan footprint in Scotland and connections with Scottish drug dealers run so deep that some people regard them as an Irish-Scottish cartel,” he added. “As Europe’s drugs death capital, it’s time the Scottish Government woke up to the threat and took it as seriously as the Irish authorities do.”