MTK Global have announced that they will cease their operations in the boxing world at the end of April, following heavy international sanctions against co-founder Daniel Kinahan,
MTK released a statement about the decision, saying that with “leading promoters” in boxing “severing all ties” with MTK and its fighters, they felt they had no other decision, but the company continues to deny that Kinahan still has any involvement with the management company or its fighters.
“As a business we have faced unprecedented levels of unfair scrutiny and criticism since the sanctioning by the U.S. Government of Daniel Joseph Kinahan,” the statement begins.
“It is a matter of public record that Mr. Kinahan’s involvement in MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated reassurances in this regard, unfounded allegations about his ongoing association with us and our fighters persist.
“Since leading promoters have now informed us that they will be severing all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters, we have taken the difficult decision to cease operations at the end of this month.
“MTK prospered because we always put the long-term interests of our fighters at the heart of what we do. Our priority in the weeks ahead will be to ensure that our world-class boxers are supported to find new partnerships as swiftly as possible.”
Kinahan has also had recent ties to Probellum, Richard Schaefer’s fledgling promotional company, which were always denied by Probellum but seemed pretty obvious, including a Pakistani government official posting photos with Kinahan and naming him — with a tag and everything! — as a Probellum representative a month ago.
Probellum released a statement a week ago that again denied connection to Kinahan, and said, “We can confirm that we will not have any business relationship or communication with him whatsoever.”
We’ve speculated about what the Kinahan sanctions might mean for MTK Global and Probellum — who, again, have never been officially tied together, but Probellum cards were filled with MTK clients — and we’re already seeing the dominoes fall pretty hard.
Along with Tyson Fury as their highest-profile client, MTK have represented dozens of name fighters who have fought on cards with every promoter in the sport over the years, from Lee Eaton’s shows that weren’t officially “MTK Global shows” for the BBBofC, but were all MTK talent with MTK logos everywhere.
–badlefthook.com
