Arum says he paid millions to Kinahan for Tyson Fury fights

LEGENDARY boxing promoter Bob Arum has revealed he paid millions to wanted alleged villain Daniel Kinahan for each of Tyson Fury’s last four bouts.

Arum, boss of legendary Top Rank, admitted he had paid more than £1million each for the quartet of fights including Fury’s last two with Deontay Wilder.

Arum went on to reveal Kinahan remains ‘100 per cent’ the brains behind Fury’s management company MTK Global, despite the firm themselves insisting they had severed ties with the so-called mob leader five years ago.

And, chillingly, Arum went on to reveal that during some of those negotiations for Fury’s recent fights, Kinahan had claimed he had ‘done some bad things’.

Arum said Top Rank had paid Kinahan up to £1.5m in consultancy fees for each of Fury’s last two bouts against Wilder as well as fights against Otto Wallin and Tom Schwarz, but said the relationship had broken down during talks for Fury’s fight this Saturday against Dillian Whyte.

‘He was becoming greedier and greedier,’ said Arum. ‘And he became more of a burden than a help. For Fury versus Whyte, Frank [Warren] and I drew the line. We would not talk to him and we would not deal with him.

‘We would not be involved and he would not get money from us or anybody else.’ Asked if Fury was upset about this, he replied: ‘Tyson was certainly not upset.’

Kinahan last week had a $5million bounty slapped on his head by the US government, who claimed that his ‘Kinahan Organised Crime Group’ smuggles drugs to Europe, launders money, trafficks firearms and commits murder, allegations Kinahan has always denied.

Arum, now 90, admitted he had been wary of Kinahan’s past when they first tried to strike up a business relationship.

He said: ‘Kinahan called me and we had a long conversation. He said, “Bob, I’ve done some bad things in my life. I admit that. But I’m not involved with that any more’.”

Arum mocked the notion that Kinahan was no longer involved with MTK. Asked whether he was still active in the running of the organisation, Arum said: ‘A hundred per cent. He founded it, it’s his company.’