Tyson Fury has broken his silence on his relationship with Daniel Kinahan after the Irishman had a $5million bounty placed on his head by the US government.
The US Treasury have threatened to sanction anyone who does business with Kinahan because of his alleged links to organised crime and Fury has spoken previously about their relationship. He went on social media to thank him for his part in helping to secure a deal with Anthony Joshua in June 2020, although the fight fell through the following summer.
Fury was also pictured smiling with Kinahan in February in Dubai where the alleged mobster is based. The unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion has spoken openly about Kinahan for the first time since he was sanctioned last week in the build-up to Saturday’s showdown with Dillian Whyte.
Fury claims being photographed with Kinahan does not mean he is “a criminal” and he tried to play down his links with him. The Gypsy King said: “A picture doesn’t mean I am a criminal? I can’t control who is in the building. There could be a criminal in this building now. It doesn’t mean I am involved in his criminal activity does it? It’s none of my business. I keep my own business to myself, that’s it.”
Fury also distanced himself from co-promoter Bob Arum’s admission that he paid Kinahan for some of his last fights. Arum, who is not in London this week because he has coronavirus, jointly promotes Fury with Frank Warren and the Traveller claimed who he chose to pay was his business.
“That’s Bob Arum’s own personal business what he does with his own money, he can spend it all on gummy bears if he wants to,” said Fury at Tuesday’s pubic work-put at BoxPark. “What someone does with their money is out of my control.
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“It’s got nowt to do with me, has it? If I say there’s a war going on in Ukraine and people ask me about that, it’s got nowt to do with me. I keep my business to myself. I’ve got my own troubles to look after with six kids and a wife nagging me to death for not being at home to help with the kids.
“I’ve got a lot more to think about than other people’s business. In my life, I’ve got a man who wants to punch my face in next week and I’ve got to deal with that. Anything else is out of my control.”
Warren claims neither he nor Fury knew about Arum’s payments to Kinahan and stressed he has nothing to do with Saturday’s record-breaking fight. “Let me make it a couple of things very clear - one, Daniel Kinahan has nothing to do with this show and, two, as Tyson said, he was unaware of any payments made by Top Rank to Daniel Kinahan,” said the Queensberry Promotions chief.
“That’s it. We were unaware of any payments being made. I’m concerned about some of the misinformation that’s going around. We’re not stupid people. All of us understand what has happened from the US Treasury.
“It’s been going on now for three years and we all know what we have to do and we will not be breaking the law. By the way, we’ve never broken the law. I don’t know what else you can say.
“Is it a bad image for boxing? We’ve sold 94,000 tickets in a day or two days. Are we going to do the business on the pay-per-view? Yes we are. We’re very conscious of what we have to do as participants and guardians of the sport, but we’re not policemen. We’re not the police. It’s only after last week that it’s actually come to something.”
