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Dept. of Foreign Affairs contact UAE over Kinahan role in Fury-Joshua fight


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The Department of Foreign Affairs has contacted authorities in the United Arab Emirates regarding the role of Daniel Kinahan in the proposed meeting of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

The MTK Global founder was thanked several times by Fury on social media for making the deal happen.

Fury's promoter Frank Warren later described Kinahan as Fury's 'special advisor'.

Kinahan formed MTK Global in 2012 alongside Matthew Macklin, but later cut ties with the management group.

In May, KHK Sports - a group founded by Bahrain’s Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa - announced they had hired Kinahan to "expand its international reach".

Subsequently, KHK Sports announced a partnership with MTK Global, the company Kinahan had originally cut ties with.

WBC heavyweight champion Fury and WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO champion Joshua are due to meet in the first of two scheduled bouts in the summer of 2021.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Fury thanked Kinahan for making the deal happen, saying: "I’m just after getting off the phone with Daniel Kinahan. He’s just informed me that the biggest fight in British boxing history has just been agreed," the WBC heavyweight champion told his 3.7million Instagram followers.

"Big shout out to Dan. He got this done, literally over the line".

Addressing Labour leader Alan Kelly in the Dail on Thursday, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, "I can certainly assure you there has been contact between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the authorities in the United Arab Emirates about that matter."

"A High Court judge has made a very defining statement in relation to Daniel Kinahan,” the Labour leader said.

"I think the Government are going to have to act immediately in relation to this.

“We, as a country, cannot tolerate a situation where one of the largest, if not the largest sporting events in the world between these two boxers actually facilitates the whitewashing of such criminal activities."

Daniel Kinahan has never been convicted of a crime.

Leo Varadkar added, "I was rather taken aback to see Tyson Fury on his video the other day just dropping in this name you mentioned as if this was not somebody who has quite a checkered history in this state and elsewhere."


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Alan Kelly Anthony Joshua Daniel Kinahan Department Of Foreign Affairs KHK Sports Leo Varadkar MTK Global Tyson Fury

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