Officially retired from the rings since the end of April, Tyson Fury has already teased the idea of a return. But the “Gypsy King” will not be able, for the moment in any case, to fight in the United States: access to American territory has just been refused to him because of his presence on a list of people who have worked in the boxing with the Irishman Daniel Kinahan, leader of a large cartel in the sights of US justice and long involved in the noble art.
Two months ago, after his TKO victory over Dillian Whyte at Wembley to retain his WBC-The heavyweight ring belts, the “neo-retired” (it might not last long) Tyson Fury once again mentioned the idea of an exhibition fight against Francis Ngannou, heavyweight champion of the UFC, with a place already in mind: “We could do it in Las Vegas”. Logic. But a priori, the “Gypsy King” and the “Predator” will have to find another stage for their common dance. Blame it on past links between Fury and Irish cartel leader Daniel Kinahan.
According to journalist Nicola Tallant of Sunday Worldspecialist of the Kinahan clan and author of the book Clash of the Clans which returns among other things to the links between the mafia boss and boxing, the British fighter was refused entry to the United States last Friday because of his past relationship with Kinahan, who has been in the sights for a few weeks American justice with a large reward (five million dollars, 4.75 million euros) offered for any information leading to his arrest and/or the dismantling of his cartel.
While attempting to board a flight to the United States from Britain, Fury was reportedly prevented from boarding the plane by US immigration due to his being on a list of 600 banned names from stay on US soil because of their ties to Kinahan. Last month, the Irish authorities had given information on the existence of this list by evoking the presence on the latter of many people from the world of boxing not involved in criminal activities but who had worked with this cartel leader who has been involved for many years behind the scenes of the noble art.
“Testing the Waters”
At the end of April, Matthew Macklin, former European middleweight champion (and world challenger) who became a consultant for Sky Sports, was the first to suffer the consequences of this “list” when he was refused boarding a flight to the States. United from London as he was due to cover the unified WBC-WBO super featherweight championship between Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez in Las Vegas. Macklin had co-founded the MGM room in 2012, which later became the management company MTK Global, with his friend Kinahan before leaving this company in 2017 – which closed its doors despite its many customers once the American sanctions against the Kinahan clan known, many other boxing entities then refusing to work with them – just like the cartel leader had officially done (who remained involved in the shadows, however).
Connected to the Kinahan subject by several journalists before his fight against Whyte, the “Gypsy King” had not hidden his nervousness and repeated that he had had “no business” with the cartel leader. The latter, who made him join MTK shortly after their meeting, was however his adviser/manager for a time (he was even invited to the wedding of the cartel leader who greatly contributed to his recovery from depression a few years ago ) and Bob Arum, boss of Top Rank and co-promoter of Fury for the US part, had explained that he paid Kinahan at least a million dollars each time for four fights of the heavyweight (Tom Schwarz, Otto Wallin and twice Deontay Wilder).
Nicola Tallant even added a layer of detail this Sunday by explaining that Fury and other former MTK boxers had booked flights to the United States to “test the waters” and find out if they belonged to this famous list of boxers. banned from US territory because of their ties to Kinahan. Despite photos of him posted on social media in recent days where he seems to be in Miami, the very serious and well-informed journalist from the Sunday World confirms that Fury has not set foot in the United States since the sanctions of the American authorities. against the cartel boss.
If he comes out of retirement to unify the heavyweight category against the winner of the second fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, the British boxer may not need to go: the shock could be in Great Britain. Brittany or the Middle East, who knows how to put a big check to host such an event, and his coach Sugar Hill Steward based in Detroit with his Kronk room can come to him to train him. Ditto for an exhibition against Ngannou. But if the situation persists, the charismatic “Gypsy King” could suffer the consequences for his future: professional wrestling in WWE, where he has already come to show in the past, for example, would become a blocked horizon.
