Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Daniel Kinahan, King of Spin, a four-part crime world special. Part three, All Out Propaganda War. Now, at the end of part two, we were discussing all that was going on in Ireland as regards the feud and how the Gardaí were really starting to dismantle the Kinahan's organisation here.
While in the meantime, Daniel Kinahan was continuing with this propaganda campaign and a lot of the boxers were coming forward with positive things about him. So MTK continues to expand and expand and expand.
And, you know, it's fascinating now looking back on these kind of things that happened because at the tail end of 2018, it was announced that a guy called Bob Yallon was to be the new president of MTK Global.
Chapter 2: How did Bob Yalon's appointment impact MTK Global?
Now, he was sort of a boxing megastar and a member of the U.S. Hall of Fame. He was obviously an American coming to the table because all the time you can see MTK sort of moving into the U.S. market. while also developing the market around the United Arab Emirates. But Yalan is one of the biggest names in boxing.
Yeah, and they're starting to sign up big American fighters like Daniel Crawford, who is probably one of the prime up and coming boxers in the world. And yeah, Bobby Allen is giving them this air of respectability, I suppose, because he's such an established figure.
And in an interview on the Leave It to the Ring podcast, which is one of the biggest boxing podcasts going, he speaks in glowing terms about Daniel Cunningham because... While Daniel Kennan is kind of a sideshow and some of his reputation has seeped over and he says, in fairness to Daniel, I've met few people who have a fighter's interest at heart more than Daniel.
He may admit that he may not have gone about certain things in the right way, but there was never anything malicious. When I speak to him, he is all about what is best for the fighters and what can be done for the fighter. I can't fault him for that. And he goes on to say that the Irish media have made a big deal about a few incidents.
Chapter 3: What propaganda strategies did Daniel Kinahan employ in boxing?
Now, the other big announcement he makes on that podcast, Leave It In The Ring, is that this lucrative new deal has been made with the Walt Disney Company, ESPN. This is the absolute pinnacle of MTK. MTK is really, really becoming something that is sort of a, it's got to be a world powerhouse for boxing. But they're sort of about to enjoy this spectacular launch in the US.
And Kinahan in the background is still concentrated on all that went on in Dublin in the Regency Hotel. And it's around this time towards the end of 2018 that this bizarre kind of a book is produced and it's available for free on the Internet.
Yes, it was a very strange development, Nicola, indeed. Blood feud is what it was called. And it was first tweeted anonymously. Yeah. But then a lot of boxers started tweeting it. And yeah, it made for some very interesting reading. One of the key cartel associates, Johnny Morrissey, was actually one of the first people to tweet it.
But it basically painted Daniel Kinahan in this kind of very good light. And it had loads of conspiracy theories basically suggesting things like the media and the government. And everyone was in cahoots with the Hutch gang. I have an actual extract of it here. I'll give a read out of it. It gives a bit of a flavour of it. It's a direct quote from the... Blood Feud book, if you like.
It states the Hutch gang made a deal with a handful of corrupt senior police officers. They agreed to stage their attack against the Kinahan gang to look like a Republican terrorist attack. In return, the senior police officer agreed to keep police officers from the Regency Hotel both before and during the attack.
And obviously there must have been an agreement to limit the prosecutions after the event. So that's kind of a flavour of the conspiracy theories that were contained throughout the publication.
And like it sort of even suggested that the emergency services were in cahoots with the plot.
Yes.
And it was sanctioned by the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. I mean, to the normal person, it's crazy stuff. Absolutely crazy stuff. But somebody had gone to the lengths of... And it was... Like, it wasn't a booklet. It was, you know, I don't think it was probably 80,000 words, but it was damn near it. Well written. Somebody had commissioned it and somebody had published it for free and anonymously.
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Chapter 4: What was the significance of the 'Blood Feud' book and its portrayal of Kinahan?
Sounds like a similar narrative than what we had in a much lengthier form in Blood Feud. And really the words of the song by Jay Spades tells us the same thing again.
Yeah, and it actually steps up the propaganda, actually, because in Blood Feud, it sort of doesn't deny that Daniel Kinnan is a bit mixed up in crime. It sort of accepts that there is such a thing as the Kinnans involved in drug dealing. But as the propaganda steps up, Daniel becomes a totally and utterly innocent man who just wants to promote a bit of boxing and is being picked on.
But it's the same conspiracy, this idea that all of these people got involved including the government to pick on poor Reed Daniel I suppose.
Now you can really see how this is picking up because a month later there's a photograph of Darren Till who's the first MMA fighter signed to MTK and he's photographed with Daniel Kinahan in Dubai. Kind of some sort of a obviously it's not a selfie somebody's held a camera taking a picture of them they have the Dubai skyline in the background but I think the
Significance of it is, this is the first time we have seen a picture of Daniel Kinahan, A, in Dubai, and B, since he was photographed at the funeral of David Byrne.
Yes, and God, that was what, that's almost four years of a gap. And it also, I suppose, it also showed how much this business was expanding now. You know, he's photographed with somebody from another discipline and high profile within that area as well.
So does it sort of show us that, like, you know, again, that is put out there. And of course, the media will all run stories around it, certainly in Ireland in particular. You know, here's the first photograph of Daniel O'Kinnon since the Regency 2016.
Is he sort of shooting himself in the foot there because he's doing exactly what he would later tell you he didn't want to do, which is hand over money?
anything of himself to the media that would help them sell or... I mean, look, we do know that there is a PR agency involved at this point in Dubai that he has hired people that have expertise in that area. This is definitely put out because they start appearing all the time. And with each one... You know, you don't just get the picture.
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Chapter 5: How did the media and public perception shift regarding Daniel Kinahan?
And she said the Irish media reporting on Daniel Kinahan is a standing joke. They're the butt of Irish jokes. That is why people make jokes about the Irish. They even contradict themselves. It's not journalism. I mean, for a guy that is really sailing, you know, into the absolute pinnacle of where he wants to be in boxing, he's still very concerned.
He just cannot let Ireland go or the Irish media or his reputation here.
I think it is, though, a type of trying to flood the zone, which Trump does, which is where, you know, you just constantly put it
a lot of stuff out and because people don't pay a huge amount of attention to it, they, you know, this is what the Trumpian, it is a strategy where you deny everything, you confuse matters, you get all sorts of stuff out there and most people aren't going to investigate heavily and they just think, oh, there's a few claims about him but there's no proof.
That's all they take out of it and I think that is the strategy that he has at this stage.
It's one thing Sandra Vaughan saying that he was the guy who fixed the Tyson Fury and, you know, was in the background working away trying to fix this new fight for him. But we're just going to have a quick look at a very well-watched video selfie that Tyson Fury released.
Hello there. 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. Get up there, my boy! Big shout out to Dan. He got this done. Literally over the line. Two fight deal. Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua next year.
Now, that shout out for Kinahan. What is the significance of this? And, you know, how massive a moment is this?
Well, it's looking like it's going to be the biggest fight of all time. I mean, at that stage, Tyson Fury is the biggest superstar in boxing. Anthony Joshua is... you know, the number two. And it's Daniel Kinahan's name being put in that context and again being given this sort of praise. At the end of the day, he's just a businessman who's done a deal.
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Chapter 6: What were the implications of the BBC documentary on Daniel Kinahan?
Don't, mate.
So Kinahan persuaded him not to chop off his leg. Another miracle that Kinahan has sort of done. He's touching the healing hands on these people and he's helping them with their mental health and everything else. And you can see they really believe that and that, you know, a lot of these boxers really believe that Kinahan is a kind of godlike creature to them almost.
But it is a bit over the top always, isn't it? Some of the praise, like it's not, you know, just regular sort of praise. He's exactly, he's almost superhuman.
He is. Now, in June of 2020, Bob Arum goes on Newstalk and he backs Kinahan again, describing him as a key, reliable negotiator for Tyson Fury's fights. who was dead honest and forthright. Aram is coming from a completely different part of the world.
I don't think he's any idea of the significance of what's happening in Ireland, about how, you know, he doesn't really care about Ireland, I suppose, either. No, exactly. But, you know, he's going on radio here, Newstalk. We can only presume that Aram is doing that of his own free will. I think so.
I think he's very... He's a bit eccentric. He's eccentric and he's been dealing with the media for decades. I mean, he was Muhammad Ali's manager at one stage. He was going back that far. And I think... He is probably, he's definitely not reading into it in detail.
And all he's really hearing is, there's some people saying some stuff about him, but there's loads of other people saying how great he is. But he just obviously likes the sound of it.
And also there has been, you know, crime and boxing has been associated for years. And I mean, like, you know, people say that about them, but actually, you know, that's his idea.
And he would later say he thought, he knew there were some allegations about Daniel, but he thought that was all in the long distant past. And I think what the difference with Kinahan is, it's not in the past, it's ongoing.
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Chapter 7: How did MTK Global expand its influence in the boxing world?
No sign of Kinahan in this. Both Tyson and I have discussed this with Dan and he's amenable and satisfied and wished us luck. He only wants the best for Tyson Fury. This is like one step in and one step out again. So he's obviously dipped in.
He has been, in what he sees, savaged in the Dáil by Leo Varadkar, which he sees as being a very significant thing to happen to him, despite the fact that he's so dismissive of Ireland, its strength on the world stage and its importance in his life. He's obviously been sort of... bit.
So he's pulling back a little bit again and they go out and they make this statement that actually Dan is just moving into the background.
And we do know or we subsequently hear from other court cases that ESPN are getting a bit wobbly about the bad publicity in particular that they don't really want to be associated with.
Sky Sports are getting loads of press queries as well and I'm sure it's not comfortable to a big company like that to be any way associated with Somebody like Daniel Kinahan. Now, in June 2020, Yallon is appointed CEO of MTK and Sandra Vaughan steps down. Yallon says in one of his first interviews that Kinahan is stepping away again. So they try to reinvent the wheel here. Yeah.
And you wonder why, because in August 2020, they signed their first American-born fighter.
Yeah.
And they go on to announce a dozen more. They open a gym in Miami and they launch a base in Canada. The problem for them is this bad publicity. They could suffer it if it's just here, but the Americans will not. And they're trying to move into America. They're trying to expand into America. And obviously you have all the RICO laws and all the other problems that there may be there.
Yeah, and of course they don't know at this stage that... The DEA have a huge interest in them and a growing interest. That isn't really public knowledge yet. In particular, the fact that the DEA were monitoring Kenan's wedding isn't known at this point. But so the American officials are aware of them and the move into there is going to be hugely controversial.
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