Crime cartel leader Daniel Kinahan was the beneficiary of a secret deal to receive millions of dollars “under the table” from a leading US boxing promoter, according to Californian court filings that purport to cast new light on Kinahan’s close relationship with champion fighter Tyson Fury.
Kinahan is alleged to have a provided a “personal guarantee” for Fury’s fees when was he poached in February 2019 by US promoter Top Rank from rival promoter Frank Warren’s Queensberry promotions.
The deal was struck after Top Rank’s agent William Keane spent two weeks in Dubai courting Kinahan and Fury, who was being advised by Kinahan. Mr Keane says he ran up more than $27,000 in expenses in that fortnight.
Mr Keane has issued a lawsuit against Top Rank claiming more than $25 million in unpaid fees. He claims Top Rank asked him to hire Fury because the business needed a star fighter to drive ratings under its deal with Walt Disney-owned cable sports broadcaster ESPN.
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Kinahan stepped forward to guarantee Fury’s fees after the fighter questioned Top Rank’s ability to pay, the lawsuit said.
“Keane knew he had only one option. He had to turn to Kinahan for help. He did, and Kinahan offered to personally guarantee Fury’s contract.”
Kinahan’s personal guarantee “was sufficient for Fury”.
One month later, Kinahan himself is alleged to have been engaged as an “international consultant” by Top Rank president Todd duBoef.
Mr Keane claims Mr duBoef turned to Kinahan because he was concerned that mixed-martial arts promoter UFC could hinder Top Rank by winning a boxing deal for itself from ESPN.
Kinahan’s role was to “help orchestrate Top Rank’s strategic move” into foreign markets.
Still, the Kinahan arrangement was to be shielded from Mr duBoef’s stepfather and Top Rank founder Bob Arum. Mr Arum is a legendary veteran of the boxing world who became Muhammad Ali’s lawyer and promoter in the 1960s.
“Concerned Arum would overrule him if he found out, duBoef decided to pay Kinahan millions of dollars for his exclusivity to Top Rank ‘under the table’ without Arum’s knowledge or consent,” said the lawsuit.
Kinahan became upset with Mr duBoef before the final deal was struck because Mr duBoef had “started to back-pedal due to concerns that once Arum found out he would kill the deal”.
“DuBoef naturally asked Keane to smooth things over with Kinahan before duBoef would speak with him directly.
“DuBoef expressed that having Kinahan’s muscle exclusively backing duBoef would be a massive advantage when it came to potential competitors and duBoef’s plans for European expansion.”
[ Tyson Fury refuses to address Daniel Kinahan sanctions story at press conferenceOpens in new window ]
Kinahan and his brother Christopher jnr are alleged to run the huge international drug trafficking operation established by their father, Christopher snr. Based in Dubai after moving from Dublin, they are the target of a widespread Garda investigation and were hit by US financial and travel sanctions three years ago.
The American sanctions led to the closure of MTK Global, the boxing promotion company Daniel Kinahan founded in 2012 which on to become a powerful force in the top echelon of international boxing. Kinahan maintained he sold the business in 2017.
When the sanctions were imposed, Mr Arum told NewsTalk radio in Dublin that he would not do business with Kinahan because of measures taken by the US authorities.
Despite claims that Mr duBoef wanted to shut out Mr Arum from the Kinahan deal, the lawsuit claimed Mr Arum and Kinahan were themselves closely aligned against Mr duBoef within Top Rank.
“DuBoef was oblivious to the fact that both Kinahan and Arum had no confidence in his judgment or management acumen. In fact, while in Kazakhstan, Kinahan confided in Arum that he was concerned about duBoef’s ability to lead the company after a meeting in which Kinahan told Arum how disliked duBoef is throughout boxing and is viewed as utterly incompetent,” the lawsuit said.
“When they returned to the United States, Arum confided in Keane and shared his concerns about duBoef’s competence and potential as the future leader of Top Rank. Arum then instructed Keane to manage the Kinahan relationship and ‘not let [duBoef] f**k it up’.”
Mr Keane claims Mr duBoef later developed “second thoughts” about the Kinahan arrangement because of concerns it would damage a prospective deal with Sky Sports in 2021.
Mr duBoef saw the link with Sky as the start of his plan for Top Rank to dominate boxing in the same way that UFC dominated mixed martial arts.
“DuBoef was concerned, however, about his alliance with Kinahan. According to duBoef, if Sky Sports learned that Top Rank was affiliated with Kinahan, it would blow the deal because Kinahan was still the subject of negative press in the UK,” the lawsuit said.
“Even though duBoef said he needed Kinahan’s MTK roster of UK fighters as well as Kinahan’s ability to poach Queensberry fighters at will, he told Keane that he was going to have to publicly, and to some extent privately, distance himself from Kinahan. As a consequence, duBoef told Keane that he needed him to fully take over the relationship with Kinahan and manage the relationships with all of Top Rank’s UK fighters.
“DuBoef told Keane that he considered him to be his partner and needed assurances that Keane would be loyal to him, rather than to Arum, Kinahan or anyone else.”
Mr duBoef called Mr Keane “in a panic” when Kinahan was sanctioned in 2022. “This time, duBoef asked Keane to lie to senior ESPN executives and say that duBoef had nothing to do with Kinahan and had never even met him.”
Top Rank did not immediately reply to a request for comment emailed to its communications representative.
