Boxing kingpin, Daniel Kinahan, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates.
The Irish fight manager rose from the regional scene to become a power player by building an extraordinary roster of talent on an advisory, if not management, basis. Big-name athletes such as Tyson Fury and Terence Crawford were linked to Kinahan. There is no suggestion either boxer is tied to criminal activity.
Boxing Social heard during the peak of his influence that many of the most powerful figures in European boxing were actually subservient to Kinahan.
The 48-year-old, unlike his father, courted the spotlight — particularly in boxing — and harnessed media sites and YouTube channels in an attempt to launder his image, as Boxing Social editor Alan Dawson reported extensively during his time at Business Insider.
Dawson also heard how Kinahan, during his climb, leaned on his reputation as the alleged head of a $1 billion drugs and weapons cartel to spread fear through the boxing industry.
People who worked with Kinahan would ask during negotiations with those outside Kinahan’s network whether they’d have to “call our friend in Dubai” to straighten things out.
We also heard through sources with knowledge of the situation that, following one recent boxing show, many “were openly walking off to call him to get his direction and approval.”
And this was after the US Treasury in 2022 slapped a $15 million bounty for information that could lead to the arrests of Daniel, his father Christopher, and brother Christy Kinahan Jr.
And now, Irish police said Friday they are aware of “the arrest of an Irish National in the United Arab Emirates,” per RTE.
According to a UAE release Boxing Social has seen, Dubai police arrested an “Irish fugitive tied to [a] transnational organized crime network.”
The statement said the arrest “comes as part of efforts to combat cross-border crime.” The arrest took place on April 15.
Six years ago, The Irish Times reported that in May 2020 a court accepted evidence that the Kinahan organized crime group specialized in “execution-type murders” to “protect its core activities” in the drugs and weapons trade.
But yet there were some in boxing who attempted to play down Kinahan’s reputation.
Lawmakers, though, were more robust in their challenge of Kinahan’s role in boxing.
Irish politician Neale Richmond, five years ago, said that Kinahan’s cartel “heaped misery on the streets of our capital through drugs, terror, and murder.”
Gardai, per RTE, said the arrest “remains a matter for the authorities in the United Arab Emirates at this time” and that it represents “another extremely important demonstration of the need for international law enforcement co-operation in tackling transnational organized crime.”
The arrest, it added, was in “accordance with the bilateral agreement on extradition between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.”
