WHEN news broke on Saturday that heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk had signed a promotional deal with Skills Challenge Entertainment (SCEE) in Saudi Arabia, it didn’t take long for some on social media to add the name. by Daniel Kinahan into the discussion.
Less sinister storylines are also suggested. The announcement came two months after Usyk pulled out of talks with Tyson Fury over a clash at Wembley Stadium, so members of the British tennis player’s team were quick to suggest that the British tennis player. Ukraine has been colluding with the Saudis all this time. However, Boxing News understands that this is not true. Talks of a promotional deal began after that deal collapsed spectacularly.
However, Kinahan’s terrifying specter is more disturbing. Fourteen months after the Irishman was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, his continued presence behind the scenes was confirmed by several insiders. However, there is no evidence that Kinahan has anything to do with boxing in Saudi Arabia, at least not anymore. SCEE learned its lesson – wanting to be taken seriously and moving forward without damaging their reputation – the moment Kinahan (officially) became one of the world’s most wanted men. in April last year. At that time, BN understood that Kinahan’s participation had ended.
It is especially important to note that the Saudis are not the only ones who have had dealings with Kinahan in the past. In fact, it’s hard to pinpoint the many ad groups that Kinahan hasn’t worked closely with in recent years, especially as his influence grew dramatically in early 2020. was told by multiple sources that he sponsored a number of major events in the UK during the two years of the pandemic; wars cannot happen in such a constrained economic environment.
Even those who try to keep their distance from Kinahan, and there are a few, will find it more difficult not to work with an individual – boxer, coach, promoter, manager or advisor – people who at some point did business with him. And that is probably why those in the sport who assumed that Kinahan’s involvement in boxing would end as soon as he was sanctioned were gravely mistaken. The tentacles that he once poked at the chin of so many people would never disappear without a fight. But it’s a fight not even Kinahan can win, Nicola Tallant, Sunday World’s Investigative Editor, told BN. “He is in Dubai and he cannot leave, and according to my information from people who are quite close to him, he goes to bed every night wondering if tomorrow morning will be the day they knock on the door. no,” she said.
“He is [Kinahan’s] like a man being thrown off the side of a ship with one hand still attached. He is very determined about boxing but is certain that his day is coming. We don’t fully understand the nuances that exist with the United Arab Emirates but no one in the history of organized crime has escaped when their face was on a wanted poster. Not terrorists, nobody. He’s done and he knows it. Therefore, Tallant reluctantly called Kinahan a ‘free man’. “I wouldn’t call it total freedom, it’s kind of a prison, but definitely a place where he can mingle with the boxers and do some business.”
The true extent of that business is unknown. But clues are everywhere if you dare to look closely. There are new ad groups with money roads leading directly to Kinahan, and other promoters, based in the UK, who can host events with multiple 12-round champion athletes on the same bill without TV support. Also look at some members of the media and the people they choose to interview and the stories they decide to ignore, familiar faces make old sounds, and mix and match company names. What angers some is that the people who supported Kinahan, only to be embarrassed last year, are now not forced to lie on beds of their own making. Instead, they flaunt the mansions his money helped build.
But not everyone who has ever helped wants to continue to do so. “There are a lot of people in the boxing world waiting for him to be arrested and then their problems will be solved,” Tallant said. “I think people are really afraid of him, they are afraid of him and there is good reason. He’s capable of anything so when he’s behind bars, whether in Ireland or the US, I think that solves a lot of people’s problems.”
The problems were not entirely created by Daniel Kinahan. They speak of the failure of boxing bodies – specifically the committees and governing bodies – to create a suitable barrier to entry. Tallant said it best: “He was allowed in the door and allowed to step on it.”
The ports are still open. There’s nothing stopping the next Daniel Kinahan from stepping in and making himself at home, it’s true. But even if the boxing authorities couldn’t or didn’t want to follow, Tallant was sure the authorities were indeed watching very carefully.
On Monday 5 June, Liam Byrne, a man known as Kinahan’s ‘key lieutenant’, was arrested in Spain. The network seems to be closing and those who have dealt with Kinahan in the past may soon regret them, no matter how much wealth they accumulate.
“I suspect a lot is going on in regards to money laundering in boxing,” Tallant explains. “They think they can get away with it because they feel untouchable, they feel above the law. People who are corrupted by drug money, maybe for the first time they receive a bunch of money that they have never had before, they feel a little something, maybe not guilt, but something there. But the more they get used to it, the more it becomes the norm for them. They begin to feel that they are worthy, that they have earned it. That’s the only way you can live with it.
“When the Kinahans left Spain to move to Dubai, they couldn’t bring everything with them,” continued Tallant. “Their money, their land, their property, all that, is in Spain. There’s a huge amount of people there who are working for them there. Boxers, or people in the boxing world, who have done the same thing – laundered their money – will certainly be targeted by the police.”
Those who praise Kinahan the loudest will be the ones who attract the most attention. Tallant wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the key figures in boxing get arrested soon. “It can be a slow process and you feel like they skipped it,” she says. “But the police won’t let them go.”
