As Daniel Kinahan spoke out for the first time since the Panorama documentary, journalist Kieran Cunningham joined us to fact-check his public relations drive.
After the airing of 'Boxing and the Mob' on the BBC last week, Kinahan has been the target of intense speculation from within and without the sport of boxing.
Cunningham believes that it is about time the sport comes to terms with the involvement of a man named in the Irish High Court as involved in the operations of a criminal cartel.
Daniel Kinahan
"Robert Smith of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) gave an interview with Donald McRae in The Guardia last week. He basically said that because Daniel Kinahan is an advisor - and in boxing an advisor is effectively a manager, but an advisor doesn't need a licence [...] that the Irish authorities need to deal with that.
"A lot of people in boxing are saying that, I have even seen some prominent journalists ask why the Gardai haven't sorted it out, this is an Irish problem. But the Gardai cannot do anything while he is in Dubai, there is no extradition agreement.
"If he comes back to Europe, it is very likely he will be arrested - if he comes back to Ireland or the UK, he will definitely be arrested. The reason he is in Dubai is that he is in hiding. He knows he will be in trouble if he leaves.
"He knows that, but this statement is dressing it up as 'poor Daniel has been persecuted, he cannot come home and get a fair trial'.
"He doesn't want to face reality, and face the questions that he should be facing. Which so many of the Kinahan cartel have had to face, and have gone to prison for long periods."
Broadcasters
The question remains as to what happens next, with the superfight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury - a one-time Kinahan client - due to take place.
"I think [the broadcasters] are all tied together because they are all a major part of the sport of boxing," said Cunningham.
"Boxing needs to decide whether it can carry on as normal. There are many within it that seem to think we can. But if the money is pulled - and a lot of the money comes from broadcasters - then how can they survive?
"MTK, as CEO Bob Yalen said on Panorama, have a big pot of money. We have never been told where that big pot of money came from. Maybe they can survive. There is a hell of a lot of others within boxing who won't.
"So do they now think that MTK and Daniel Kinahan are bigger than the sport? If they don't think that, then they will have to stand up to them because the broadcasters will go. But it needs proper governance, it needs an international governing body."
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