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The Kinahan Bombshell, Boxing’s Latest Besmirchment, Has Deep Roots
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On Tuesday of this week at a press conference in Dublin attended by representatives of multiple government agencies, the United States Treasury sanctioned Daniel Kinahan and several of his associates and put a bounty on their heads. A reward of “up to” $5 million was offered for an arrest and conviction “leading to the financial disruption” of their alleged international crime cartel. The KOCG (the acronym stands for the Kinahan Organized Crime Group) is accused of importing large quantities of cocaine from South America for distribution to countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Daniel Kinahan is an important man in the sport of prizefighting. Tyson Fury publicly thanked him for his role in brokering the fight between he and Anthony Joshua, potentially the richest fight of all time, albeit a fight that had to be put on the back burner because Fury had a pre-existing contractual obligation that his management could not sunder.
Some have called the news regarding Kinahan the biggest story in boxing this year. However, one wouldn’t have surmised that if one had tuned in to yesterday’s press conference for the forthcoming mega-fight between Fury and Dillian Whyte. The issue was never broached during the question-and-answer session with the media although co-promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum, who joined the fighters on the Zoom call, put the lid on it, taking no questions from reporters likely to ask the Gypsy King for his take on the matter.
We here at The Sweet Science have been following the Kinahan saga since 2016. On February 5 of that year, gunfire erupted at Dublin’s Regency Hotel during the weigh-ins for a card (ultimately cancelled) to be held at Dublin’s National Stadium the following day. Intruders bearing assault rifles burst into the ballroom where the weigh-ins were happening, fatally shooting one man and seriously wounding two others. The decedent, a career criminal, was reputedly an associate of Irish drug lord Christy Kinahan, the father of Daniel Kinahan, and the murder was said to be in retaliation for the contract killing of a man in Marbella, Costa del Sol, Spain, the previous year. The victim in Marbella was a Dublin man affiliated with a rival gang.
The upscale resort city of Marbella, a quick hop by boat to Morocco, houses the largest concentration of drug traffickers in the world. It was here that the Kinahans opened the first of what has become an international chain of boxing gyms. The nominal owner was former British and European middleweight champion and three-time world title challenger Matthew Macklin and the gym took the name MGM, which stood for Macklin Gym Marbella (not to be confused with the unaffiliated MGM casino chain).
The gym subsequently changed its name to MTK Global and during its rapid expansion – there are now more than 20 MTK Global gyms on five continents — morphed into something more than a gym franchiser. It now bills itself as the world’s foremost boxing management company, negotiating contracts for the fighters under its umbrella and arranging endorsements and sponsorships for them.
In June of 2020, former ABC and ESPN boxing coordinator Bob Yalen joined the company in the role of CEO. Yalen, a Connecticut native who enters the International Boxing Hall of Fame this summer with the class of 2022, gave the company a veneer of respectability. He replaced Sandra Vaughan, a woman identified in the papers as the ex-partner of a convicted drug dealer named Kevin Kelly.
Four current world title-holders have ties to MTK Global: Tyson Fury, unified 140-pound champion Josh Taylor, WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood, and IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards. A number of U.S. boxers — e.g., Vergil Ortiz Jr, Jojo Diaz, and Arnold Barboza – are also MTK Global clients.
Last month Probellum, the company founded last year by former Swiss banker and former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, staged shows on back-to-back nights at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai. Years from now, when the history of the Kinahans and MTK Global comes fully into focus, this will stand out as a momentous occasion.
There was only one world title fight – Sunny Edwards vs. Muhammad Waseem – but the cost of putting on the two-day affair required a backer or backers with very deep pockets. The travel expenses alone were enormous. There were 10 fights on each night, 20 fights in all, and the 40 competitors represented 20 countries: Argentina, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, England, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, the United States, Uzbekistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
It was no coincidence that this big event was held in Dubai. The UAE has no extradition treaties with countries in the western hemisphere. Daniel Kinahan, his father, and Daniel’s brother Christy Kinahan Jr currently reside there.
World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman was an honored guest. Sulaiman wrote about his experiences in an article published on the WBC web site. Here’s an excerpt:
During Probellum fight night I also met Daniel Kinahan who is advisor and manager of boxers. A man who has been labeled as a person linked to criminal groups. I had a fascinating and insightful talk with him, confirmed by the testimonies of many boxers, who express their admiration and gratitude for the unconditional support he has given them, which has allowed them to significantly improve their lives.
I am nobody to judge any person, and that has been the policy plus ethos of our organization, to combat all types of discrimination and abuse of power, for any person or group.
Since the announcement of the sanctions, there has been a rush by boxing promoters to disassociate themselves from Daniel Kinahan.
“MTK Global will take every measure to ensure the company and those who deal with it are fully compliant with the US sanctions announced this week and take this matter very seriously,” said a formal statement from the desk of Bob Yalen in which it was asserted that MTK parted ways with Daniel Kinahan in February of 2017 (an assertion at odds with a report that MTK Global shares an address with Daniel Kinahan’s unit in the exclusive Jumeirah Bay Tower in Dubai).
Probellum issued this statement: “We have retained counsel in the US to ensure that we fully comply with all rules, regulations and requirements related to this matter…Any suggestions that Daniel Kinahan is a shareholder or owner of Probellum is false and defamatory.”
In a conversation with ESPN combat sports reporter Marc Raimondo, Top Rank honcho Bob Arum said, “I’m a law-abiding American citizen and I will adhere to those sanctions and not have any business relationship with (Daniel Kinahan). Period. End of story.” Arum would subsequently acknowledge that he paid Kinahan $4 million in consulting fees, $1 million for each of the four Tyson Fury fights in Las Vegas that Top Rank co-promoted, sending the money to a third party, a company registered in Dubai.
In his Kinahan story for ESPN, Kevin Iole noted that boxing in the U.S. has had a long history with organized crime, citing mid-20th century hoodlums Frankie Carbo and Blinky Palermo as examples. We would have gone back further. Arnold Rothstein, best remembered as the alleged mastermind behind the 1919 World Series fix and as the inspiration for the Meyer Wolfsheim character in “The Great Gatsby,” reputedly owned a large piece of fabled lightweight champion Benny Leonard. After his death it came to be understood that Rothstein made more money from the illegal drug trade than he did from all of his gambling enterprises. Prohibition-era gangster Owney Madden was reportedly the head of the syndicate that maneuvered Primo Carnera into the world heavyweight title. Jimmy Cannon’s famous line that boxing is the red-light district of sports has held up in every generation.
An editorial writer for the British Morning Star says the Kinahan scandal “amplifies the case for an international governing body (to regulate the sport).” Don’t hold your breath.
Arne K. Lang’s latest book, titled “George Dixon, Terry McGovern and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910,” will shortly roll off the press. The book, published by McFarland, can be pre-ordered directly from the publisher (https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/clashof-the-little-giants) or via Amazon.
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Cain Sandoval KOs Mark Bernaldez in the Featured Bout at Santa Ynez
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Northern California’s Cain Sandoval remained undefeated with a knockout win over Mark Bernaldez in a super lightweight battle on Friday on a 360 Promotions card.
Sandoval (15-0, 13 KOs) of Sacramento needed four rounds to figure out tough Filipino fighter Bernaldez (25-7, 14 KOs) in front of a packed crowd at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez.
Bernaldez had gone eight rounds against Mexico’s very tough Oscar Duarte. He showed no fear for Sandoval’s reputed power and both fired bombs at each other from the second round on.
Things turned in favor of Sandoval when he targeted the body and soon had Bernaldez in retreat. It was apparent Sandoval had discovered a weakness.
In the beginning of the fourth Sandoval fired a stiff jab to the body that buckled Bernaldez but he did not go down. And when both resumed in firing position Sandoval connected with an overhand right and down went the Filipino fighter. He was counted out by referee Rudy Barragan at 34 seconds of the round.
“I’m surprised he took my jab to the body. I respect that. I have a knockout and I’m happy about that,” Sandoval said.
Other Bouts
Popular female fighter Lupe Medina (9-0) remained undefeated with a solid victory over the determined Agustina Vazquez (4-3-2) by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a minimumweight fight between Southern Californians.
Early on Vazquez gave Medina trouble disrupting her patter with solid jabs. And when Medina overloaded with combination punches, she was laced with counters from Vazquez during the first four rounds.
Things turned around in the fifth round as Medina used a jab to keep Vazquez at a preferred distance. And when she attacked it was no more than two-punch combination and maintaining a distance.
Vazquez proved determined but discovered clinching was not a good idea as Medina took advantage and overran her with blows. Still, Vazquez looked solid. All three judges saw it 79-73 for Medina.
A battle between Southern Californian’s saw Compton’s Christopher Rios (11-2) put on the pressure all eight rounds against Eastvale’s Daniel Barrera (8-1-1) and emerged the winner by majority decision in a flyweight battle.
It was Barrera’s first loss as a pro. He never could discover how to stay off the ropes and that proved his downfall. Neither fighter was knocked down but one judge saw it 76-76, and two others 79-73 for Rios.
In a welterweight fight Gor Yeritsyan (20-1,16 KOs) scorched Luis Ramos (23-7) with a 12-punch combination the sent him to the mat in the second round. After Ramos beat the count he was met with an eight punch volley and the fight was stopped at 2:11 of the second round by knockout.
Super feather prospect Abel Mejia (7-0, 5 KOs) floored Alfredo Diaz (9-12) in the fifth round but found the Mexican fighter to be very durable in their six-round fight. Mejia caught Diaz with a left hook in the fifth round for a knockdown. But the fight resumed with all three judges scoring it 60-53 for Mejia who fights out of El Modena, Calif.
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The Return of David Alaverdian
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By TSS Special Correspondent David Harazduk — After David Alaverdian (8-0-1, 6 KOs) scored a gritty victory against a tough Nicaraguan journeyman named Enrique Irias, his plans suddenly changed. The flashy flyweight from Nahariya, Israel hoped to face even tougher opposition and then challenge for a world title within a year or so. But a prolonged illness forced David to rip up the script.
The Irias fight was over 22 months ago. On Saturday, Feb. 22, Alaverdian will be making his first appearance in the ring since that win when he faces veteran road warrior Josue “Zurdo” Morales (31-16-4, 13 KOs) at the Westgate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It’s the fifth promotion by Las Vegas attorney Stephen Reid whose inaugural card was at this venue on Feb. 13, 2020.
“I’m excited to come back,” Alaverdian declared.
During his preparation for Irias two years ago, Alaverdian felt fatigue after a routine six-round sparring session. “It was on April 1, 2023, about ten days before my fight. It felt like an April Fool’s joke,” he said. He came down with a sore throat, a headache, and congestion. He soon developed trouble breathing. At first, he thought his seasonal asthma had flared up, but his condition soon worsened. No matter what he did, Alaverdian could no longer take deep breaths. Fatigue continued to plague him. His heart constantly raced. Instead of breathing from his diaphragm, he was breathing from his chest. He sought out numerous doctors in the United States and in Israel.
His symptoms were finally diagnosed as Dysfunctional Breathing (DB). DB is a condition that can stem from stress and is often misdiagnosed. Its symptoms include dyspnea and tachycardia, both of which David experienced.
While receiving treatment, the Vegas-based pro went back to Israel where he coached aspiring fighters. “David’s influence on Israeli boxing is amazing, because he shows we can succeed in a big business even though we come from a small country,” said another undefeated Israeli flyweight, 20-year-old Yonatan Landman (7-0, 7 KOs). “A lot more Israelis are going to dare to succeed.”
Landman was able to work with Alaverdian during David’s return to Israel. “He is a great guy and a friend,” Landman said. “He has a lot of willingness to help, share his knowledge, and help you move forward.”
Alaverdian finally started to feel like he could compete again eight months ago. He won last year’s Israeli national amateur championship and competed in Olympic qualifiers. Now, he’s preparing to fight as a professional once again. “He doesn’t mention anything about [his breathing issues] like he did before,” his coach Cedric Ferguson said about this camp. “He’s been working like there’s no issue at all.”
It has been a whirlwind week for the 31-year-old Alaverdian. In addition to putting the finishing touches on his preparation ahead of Saturday’s comeback fight, David got married on Tuesday. His mom came over from Israel for the wedding and will stay for the fight. “It’s a good distraction,” David said of this week’s significant events. “It helps me. That way I don’t have to focus on the fight all day.”
Josue Morales, a 32 year old from Houston, hopes to play spoiler on Saturday. The crafty southpaw has never been stopped during his 52-fight career. “He’s a seasoned guy with a lot of experience,” Alaverdian said of Morales. “He knows how to move around the ring and is more of a technical boxer. He’s a tough opponent for someone who has been out of the ring for two years.”
A win Saturday night would complete a monumental week for David Alaverdian, both in and out of the ring, repairing the once-shredded script.
Doors open at the Westgate fight arena at 6:30 pm. The first bout goes at 7:00. Seven fights are scheduled including an 8-round female fight between Las Vegas light flyweight Yadira Bustillos and Argentine veteran Tamara Demarco.
NOTE: Author David Harazduk has run The Jewish Boxing Blog since 2010. You can find him at Twitter/X @JewishBoxing and Instagram.
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Two Candidates for the Greatest Fight Card in Boxing History
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Two Candidates for the Greatest Fight Card in Boxing History
Saturday’s fight card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, topped by the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for undisputed light heavyweight supremacy, was being hyped as the greatest boxing card ever. That was before Daniel Dubois took ill and had to pull out of his IBF world heavyweight title defense against Joseph Parker, yielding his slot to last-minute replacement Martin Bakole.
The view from here is that the card remains in the running for the best fight card ever, top to bottom. The public didn’t view Dubois as the legitimate heavyweight champion. That distinction goes to Oleksandr Usyk.
Terms like “greatest” are, of course, subjective. Are we referring to the most attractive match-ups or the greatest array of talent, or the card that gives the most satisfaction by churning out a multiplicity of entertaining fights?
We won’t know how satisfying this card is until after the fact. We won’t know whether the talent on display was the greatest ever assembled on one night until many years have passed. Contestants such as Shakur Stevenson, Vergil Ortiz Jr, and Hamzah Sheeraz are still in their twenties (Stevenson is the oldest of the three at age 27) and it’s too soon to gauge if they will leave the sport with a great legacy.
As for which fight card in history had the deepest pool of attractive match-ups, this is a query that is amenable to an operational definition. Betting lines are a useful tool for informing us whether or not a fight warrants our attention if the likelihood of witnessing a closely-contested bout is our primary consideration.
Based on these factors, I would submit that the current leader in the race for the best card ever assembled goes to Don King’s May 7, 1994 promotion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Six future Hall of Famers – Julio Cesar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Azumah Nelson, Terry Norris, Julian Jackson, and Christy Martin — were on that card, an 11-fight, eight-hour marathon with five WBC world title fights, four of which were rematches.
These were the five title fights:
140 pounds: Julio Cesar Chavez (89-1-1, 77 KOs) vs. Frankie Randall (49-2-1, 39 KOs)
Odds: Chavez 3/1 (minus-300)
154 pounds: Terry Norris (37-4, 23 KOs) vs. Simon Brown (41-2, 30 KOs)
Odds: even (11/10 and take your pick)
160 pounds: Gerald McClellan (30-2, 28 KOs) vs. Julian Jackson (48-2, 45 KOs)
Odds: McClellan 7/2 (minus-350)
130 pounds: Azumah Nelson (37-2-2, 26 KOs) vs. Jesse James Leija (27-0-2, 13 KOs)
Odds: Nelson 17/10 (minus-170)
105 pounds: Ricardo Lopez (36-0, 27 KOs) vs. Kermin Guardia (21-0, 14 KOs)
Odds: none
Results
Chavez-Randall — Julio Cesar Chavez avenged his loss to Frankie Randall, but not without controversy. An accidental clash of heads in the eighth round left Chavez with a bad gash on his forehead. Ring physician Flip Homansky would have allowed the bout to continue if that had been Chavez’s preference, but El Gran Campeon wasn’t so inclined. A WBC rule specified that in the event of a significant injury accruing from an accidental head butt, the less-damaged fighter is penalized a point. The fight went to the scorecards where Chavez won a split decision that would have been a draw without the point deduction. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Chavez, but the big bets were mostly on Randall and the odds got nicked down on the day of the fight.
Brown-Norris — In their first meeting in December of the previous year, Simon Brown dominated Terry Norris from the opening bell before stopping him in the fourth round. It was a massive upset. Norris was in the conversation for the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. In the rematch, Norris opened a slight favorite, but the late money was on Brown. And, once again, the so-called “sharps” were on the wrong side. Terry Norris, the would-be avenger, won a comfortable decision.
McClellan-Jackson — A murderous puncher, Gerald McClellan bombed out Julian Jackson in 83 seconds, or four rounds quicker than in their first engagement. Jackson was also a murderous puncher and attracted money in the sports books, lowering the price on the victorious McClellan who yet remained a solid favorite.
Nelson-Leija – WBC President Jose Sulaiman mandated this rematch after the first meeting ended in a draw after an error was found in the tabulation of one of the scorecards, overturning the original verdict which had Nelson retaining his title on a split decision. Leija thought he was robbed and was the rightful winner in the do-over, outworking Nelson to win a unanimous decision. At age 35, Azumah was getting long in the tooth.
Lopez-Guardia – Before the digital age, bookmakers didn’t trifle to post lines on bouts that on paper were egregious mismatches, save perhaps a fight of great magnitude. Guardia, the Colombian challenger, overachieved by lasting the distance in a fight with no knockdowns, but “Finito” won a lopsided decision.
A Note on Odds
Betting lines serve a useful purpose for boxing historians; they quantify the magnitude of an upset. However, quoting odds is tricky because they are fluid and vary somewhat from place to place. What this means is that two journalists can quote different odds on the same event and they both can get it right – unless there is a significant disparity. The odds quoted above are the closing lines at the MGM Grand or, at the very least, a very close approximation.
Saturday in Riyadh
One reason why tomorrow’s fight card is the best ever, said the tub-thumpers, is that the card (in its original conformation) included seven world title fights. But that’s no big deal There are so many title fights nowadays that the term “world title” has been trivialized. And what wasn’t acknowledged is that three of the title fights were of the “interim” stripe.
However – and this is a big deal — a glance at the odds informs us that tomorrow’s card is chock-full of competitive match-ups (at least on paper) and from that aspect, a blend of quality and quantity, it is a doozy of a boxing card.
The greatest boxing linemaker of my generation, now deceased, once told me that any fight where the “chalk” was less than a 3/1 favorite is essentially a “pick-‘em” fight. Yes, I know that makes no sense mathematically. However, I know what he was getting at. In a baseball game, for example, it’s very rare to find a team favored by odds of more than 3/1. In boxing, where self-serving promoters are constantly feeding us King Kong vs. Mickey Mouse, odds higher than 3/1 are the norm.
As this is being written, there are six fights on Saturday’s card where one could play the favorite without laying more than 3/1. I believe this is unprecedented. Moreover, the main event and a fascinating match-up on the undercard, Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov, are virtual toss-ups with the favorites, Beterbiev and Ortiz, currently available at 5/4 (minus-125). Another very intriguing fight is the heavyweight contest between late bloomers Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang which finds the less-heralded Kabayel cloaked as a small favorite. And kudos to Joseph Parker for accepting Martin Bakole when he could have held out for a lesser opponent. If Bakole is in shape (a big “if”), he will be a handful.
And so, where does tomorrow’s card rank on the list of best boxing cards ever? Right up there near the top, we would argue, and, if the bouts in large part are memorably entertaining, we would push it ahead of Don King’s May 7, 1994 extravaganza.
That’s the view from here. Feel free to dissent.
Postscript: If you plan to watch the entire card ($25.99 on DAZN for U.S. buyers), it would help to stock up on some munchies. The first fight (Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith) is scheduled to kick off at 8:45 a.m. for us viewers in the Pacific Time Zone / 11:45 a.m. ET. If the show adheres tight to its schedule (no guarantee), Beterbiev and Bivol are expected to enter the ring at 3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET.
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