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Hearn on Kinahan: "It's bad news for the sport"

Eddie Hearn says Daniel Kinahan is bringing the wrong kind of attention to the sport of boxing. ...



Hearn on Kinahan:
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Hearn on Kinahan: "It's bad news for the sport"

Eddie Hearn says Daniel Kinahan is bringing the wrong kind of attention to the sport of boxing. 

The BBC Panorama documentary Boxing And The Mob revealed Kinahan's continued involvement in the sport, despite previous claims of a diminished role.

He continues to advise lineal world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Since then, the Dubliner has doubled-down telling Talksport, "I am proud to say today that I have helped organise over a dozen major world title fights.

"I continue to be involved in planning multiple record-breaking and exciting world title fights: I’m doing all I can to give fight fans around the world the fights they want."

Anything that portrays a negative spin on the sport is bad news for me.

Kinahan has no criminal convictions but was named in the High Court in 2018 as a senior figure in organised crime on an international scale.

Hearn says he dealt with Kinahan during the initial talks regarding the proposed two-match deal between Fury and WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO champion Anthony Joshua.

The Matchroom Boxing chief discussed the fallout to the Panorama documentary with The Opening Bell podcast.

"I think boxing's unique in that there are no barriers to entry," Hearn said.

"So, whether you want to become a fighter, whether you want to become an advisor, whether you want to become a trainer, whether you want to become a promoter you can do it.

"If you turned around today and said, 'I want to start advising fighters', you're off and running.

"So anything that represents boxing in a bad light is never good for the sport.

"The show we saw the other night didn't tell the hardcore boxing audience anything different - because that story's been told.

"But what it did do was open that story up to a much wider audience, which is not good for boxing because that's the wider audience I talk about that I'm trying to convince to bring into boxing.

"With boxing, it always feels like - not certain people, but - people never quite want it to get there.

"You work and you work and you work and you work and you're nearly there, and then it's like 'No, boxing's dead! No, look at these people involved in boxing!', and that's what we're constantly fighting against.

"From our perspective, we have no say over who manages, advises, represents fighters.

"That would be a complete conflict of interest as a promoter. And we will deal with who we're instructed to deal with from a fighter's respect to make the fights that the fans and the broadcasters want to see.

"The reason this has come around, really, is because of the focus on the fact that Daniel Kinahan is Tyson Fury's advisor.

"And initially, when we had to make that fight we were instructed to do so via Daniel Kinahan. Not Frank Warren, not Bob Arum.

"Now, because of the furore that [fight negotiation] switched to Bob Arum.

"But now it's obviously brought the story to a much bigger audience, thus the BBC Panorama story."

Hearn was asked if the Panorama revelations had made his job more difficult.

"Yeah, of course it does yeah," he replied, "Like I say, anything that's negative, or anything that portrays a negative spin on the sport is bad news for me.

"It's bad news for the sport.

"Any sport - it doesn't matter if it's boxing, or if it's football or if it's tiddlywinks - anything that portrays a sport in a bad light stops the progress that you're trying to make."

Despite pressure from the outside regarding Kinahan's role in brokering the Fury-Joshua fight, Hearn said the heavyweight blockbuster is now just dependent on minor contractual details being agreed.

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Anthony Joshua Boxing Daniel Kinahan Eddie Hearn MTK MTK Global Matchroom Matchroom Boxing Tyson Fury