By Michael Kane
Top Rank boss Bob Arum confirmed that he paid Irish gang leader Daniel Kinahan $4 million for each of Tyson Fury’s four fights between 2019 and 2021.
Arum said the money was paid to Dubai-based Hoopoe Sports Agent, for consulting fees owed to Kinahan. Four matches are two matches Deontay Wilder, Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin played.
Arum’s confirmation comes in the context of US authorities putting Kinahan on a wanted list with a reward of $ 5 million. At a press conference last Tuesday in Dublin, US officials placed Kinahan, his father and brother, as well as other known associates with sanctions, including freezing all accounts. and Bank of America credit cards. Hoopoe Sports Agent is one of the companies sanctioned.
When asked how he was related to Kinahan, Arum told Yahoo Sports, “Kinahan called me and we had a long conversation. He has kids and he says he wants to get out of other things. He said to me, ‘Bob, I’ve done some terrible things in my life. I admit that. But I don’t relate to that anymore. I’m just trying to clean up my life and be a legit business person. ‘ I wasn’t involved in any of the things he might have done before and he told me he didn’t do anything. ”
Arum and Top Rank began to separate from Kinahan last year.
“At one point we discovered that he may still be involved in some nefarious activity,” Arum said. “For us that is enough.”
Before the Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte fight on April 23, Arum wasn’t afraid of any US authorities raiding the event.
“We are complying with all government laws and regulations, as we always do,” Arum said. “But I don’t expect anything [like a seizure] happened because Kinahan had nothing to do with the event. ”
Kinahan helped found MTK Global in 2012, an advertising agency that has Tyson Fury, among many other boxing stars, as a client. Arum says that Top Rated will no longer certify MTK and Probellum (another boxing promoter who started life as an MMA arm of MTK).
Both MTK and Probellum stated in the press release that Kinahan was not related to both companies and Probellum also stated that they were the company that promoted a competitor to Top Rank and had never worked with them.
MTK said in their statement:
MTK Global will fully comply with US government sanctions against Daniel Kinahan.
MTK parted ways with Mr. Kinahan in February 2017. Since then, he is not interested in the business and will not be related to us in the future.
MTK operates ethically, transparently and legally. We will cooperate fully with all competent authorities and assist with any ongoing investigation.
Bob Yalen, CEO of MTK Global said: “MTK Global will take every measure to ensure that the company and those dealing with it are fully compliant with the US sanctions announced this week. and take this very seriously.
The Probellum statement is read as:
Probellum takes the sanctions imposed by the United States Department of Treasury extremely seriously, and the business and its employees will fully comply with them.
We have our own advisers in the United States to ensure that we fully comply with all rules, regulations and requirements relating to this matter, including not working with any individuals or companies that have been sanctioned by the United States.
This includes Daniel Kinahan and we can confirm that we will not have any business or communication relationship with him.
Bob Arum’s comments implying that Top Rated has terminated its business relationship with Probellum are baseless.
Top Rated is a competitor and since the founding of Probellum, Top Rated has never worked directly with us. Any suggestion that Daniel Kinahan is a shareholder or owner of Probellum is untrue and defamatory.
