Who Is Daniel Kinahan?

By: Sean Crose

“I have tried my best to ignore the allegations that are constantly made about me,” 43 year old Daniel Kinahan said in a statement to TalkSport on Monday. “I have dedicated myself to my work in boxing for over 15 years.” For those who don’t know, Kinahan is a boxing insider. According to Irish authorities, the Dubliner is also a high level gangster who runs the notorious “Kinahan Cartel,” an organization reputed to be involved in drug running, arms dealing, and murder.

“I have started from the bottom and worked my way up,” Kinahan continued in his statement. “I am proud to say today that I have helped organize over a dozen major world title fights.” To be sure, Kinahan helped create and run the high profile MTK promotional outlet, which has such notables as Fury, Carl Frampton, Jamel Heering and Michael Conlon on its roster. He’s no longer officially on board with company he helped create, but Fury recently thanked Kinahan for his part in trying to make a much-anticipated bout with Anthony Joshua a reality.

“I’m Irish,” Kinahan continued in his statement. “I was born and raised in Dublin. In a deprived area with serious levels of poverty, of crime, of under investment. People like me, from there, aren’t expected to do anything with their lives other than serve the middle and upper classes. Boxing is a working class sport for which I’ve had a lifelong love and passion.” While this may be true, law enforcement and members of the media have painted a different picture of the man.  “The name Kinahan in Ireland,” writes that country’s TheJournal.ie, “has long been associated with organized crime, murder and tragedy. But it is only in recent months that those across the world are now seeing Daniel Kinahan for what gardaí and various police forces suspect that he is – the head of an international drugs cartel.”

Kinahan fled to the middle east after the outbreak of a bloody Irish gang war – one which started out in an elaborate and brutal rubout during a press conference for a boxing card – but Irish authorities clearly want their man back on Irish soil. “Officials in Dubai,” TheJournal.ie writes, “where Kinahan fled as a feud with the rival Hutch gang raged in Dublin and Spain, are now in contact with Irish and Spanish police forces. Extradition remains a realistic possibility. Deportation is a more likely outcome.”

Still, Kinahan insists that his good name is being slandered and unfairly targeted. “I can’t be any clearer,” he said, “on the fundamental slur – I am not a part of a criminal gang or any conspiracy. I have no convictions. None. Not just in Ireland but anywhere in the world.”