WBO super middleweight Billy Joe Saunders is outraged after getting word that his adviser, Daniel Kinahan, might be walking away from boxing for a while.
Kinahan was a co-founder of the management group MTK Global. He currently lives and works in Dubai.
He has a cloud of controversy hanging over his head and his involvement in the sport has come under fire in recent weeks.
Kinahan, son of convicted drug dealer Christie Kinahan, is a person of heavy interest to the state police force of the Republic of Ireland.
A few weeks ago, evidence was presented at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court - alleging that Kinahan was at the top of the Kinahan crime family, an organization involved in drugs, firearms and murder on “an international scale.”
Back in 2018, a Spanish police officer testified to a court in Marbella and made allegations that Kinahan ordered the murder of a gang rival on the Costa Del Sol in 2015.
According to reports, Kinahan is named as a target by the CAB, the DEA and the FBI.
On the boxing side of things, Kinahan was personally advising fighters like Saunders, WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and others.
Although he was no longer an executive of MTK, he was helping broker major deals for the company and was directing talent to their brand.
The growing controversy forced Fury and Top Rank to remove Kinahan from all future fight negotiations.
Saunders, who is very close with Kinahan, feels very upset by with his decision to step away from the sport.
“This is part of the reason why nothing has moved forward with me at the minute,” Saunders told IFL TV.
“There’s only one man I can trust and go away and work and tell him this is what I want to happen, and sometimes he’ll make it even better. Without a man you can trust in this game 100 percent, it’s something I don’t want to be involved in any more.
“It’s about having somebody you can trust and go and get on with your business. Making fights is more stressful than getting ready to fight. I took a lot of advice from a very personal friend of mine in Daniel. He’s walking away from boxing, which is a big, big loss in my eyes. I don’t know if I want to be a part of it at this level anymore moving forward.”