Bob Arum has made an interesting comparison between Daniel Kinahan and Don King, in praising the Dubliner.
Kinahan's role in boxing has come under renewed scrutiny following the broadcast of the BBC Panorama documentary, Boxing And The Mob.
Kinahan continues to advise lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, telling Talksport in February, "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."
The final points of the proposed Fury-Anthony Joshua title fights are yet to be agreed, with the latter's promoter Eddie Hearn claiming last month that the Panorama documentary had made his life more difficult, "Yeah, of course it does yeah," he said, "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."
More from Bob Arum:
“(Kinahan) has been very honorable (in our dealings). What he did before, what he didn’t do before; fucking (Don) King stomped a guy’s head in and did that stop King from being a major promoter for most of my career? What the fuck are we talking about?” https://t.co/qxP0kI8WG2— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) March 9, 2021
But speaking with The Athletic's Mike Coppinger, Top Rank supremo Arum has leapt to Kinahan's defence.
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.
Arum said, "[Kinahan] has been very honourable [in our dealings].
"What he did before, what he didn’t do before; fucking (Don) King stomped a guy’s head in and did that stop King from being a major promoter for most of my career?
"What the fuck are we talking about?"
Arum was referencing King's 1967 conviction on second-degree murder. The promoter stomped a man to death over a $600 gambling death, with the charge later reduced to manslaughter. King served 3-years and 11-months at a correctional facility in Ohio.
King was also found to have committed a justifiable homicide when a man tried to rob one of his illegal gambling houses in 1954.
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