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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

How Daniel Kinahan has delayed Jake Paul v Tommy Fury

Saudi Arabia will host Jake Paul's highly anticipated bout with Tommy Fury this weekend.

The pair finally clash in Riyadh after two previous scheduled bouts between them fell through.

The first of those was scheduled to take place back in December 2021, but Fury was forced to withdraw from it due to an injury.

READ MORE: Jake Paul issues "mentally weak" Tommy Fury verdict after fight face-off refusal

A second event was organised for Madison Square Garden last August, when Daniel Kinahan's former friendship with Tommy's brother and WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson became a huge issue for Tommy in terms of getting into America.

The former Love Island star was denied access to the States over his brother's past links to Kinahan, who was sanctioned by the US last year.

Kinahan has been named as a senior figure in organised crime in the High Court in Ireland, and in April last year the US Treasury imposed sanctions on him, his father Christy Kinahan and brother Christy Kinahan Jr as well as several associates of the Kinahan family.

The US Treasury and the US Department of State are offering rewards of up to $5million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Daniel, Christopher Jnr and Christy.

Tommy revealed last June that he was denied access to America after arriving at Heathrow Airport to board a flight to New York to attend a press conference with Paul.

He said on social media at the time: "So I just want to come on here and set the record straight before anyone else tries to.

"Me and my team this morning arrived at Heathrow Airport ready for the press conference, ready to fly out.

"As soon as I entered the airport I got pulled to one side and I was told by a Homeland security officer that was there that my ESTA had been denied and I wasn't able to travel to the USA for a reason that I apparently know."

He added: "I can stand here and say I've done absolutely nothing wrong and I have no clue why I am not allowed to travel to the USA.

"Like I say I've been training for a fight for this whole time, and that's all I've been doing."

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury (Getty Images)

He continued: "I have no clue why they would not allow me to travel today, and neither does any of my team or my lawyers.

"Now I'm having to go to Embassies and all this sort of stuff to try and resolve it, and I'm in the middle of training guys.

"I don't know why this has happened today it's a massive shock to me and my whole team. Obviously it's a matter that needs to be resolved, it's government issues. You know it's a lot bigger than the fight right now and I'm just trying to get it sorted.

"But I just wanted to let you all know where it was at."

Confirming the ban a few months in October, Tommy said he fears a resolution could be a long way off.

Directly asked about ‘the Kinahan situation’ on the MMA Fighting on SBN podcast, Tommy said: “I don’t know (what’s happening), that’s what I pay my lawyers for and my legal team every day, they’re sorting it and I said please get this resolved as soon as possible and that’s where I’ve left it at the moment.

Daniel Kinahan with boxer Tyson Fury (supplied)

“I’m hoping it gets resolved asap because I want to come to America not just for boxing and of course for the big one to get this fight over the line but if it doesn’t get resolved for a long time I can’t speak on how long this is going to take.

“But let’s say it’s a long time, let’s get it on over here. I’ll fight that man wherever, I’m not bothered. I am ready to go.

“I cannot get into America, even right now, I cannot go to America.

“Forget the boxing talk, America’s my favourite place to go: the food, the weather, everything, the people, I love America. I love everything to do with America and it’s stopped me from going there. In my personal life, me and the missus (girlfriend Molly Mae) love going to New York around Christmas – can’t do that.

“We can’t do a number of things now. So boxing’s not all that’s affected. But that’s the same right now, I cannot enter America and that’s why the fight didn’t happen."

Addressing claims that Kinahan runs a global organised crime group, Tyson previously said: "That’s none of my business and I don’t interfere with anybody else’s business."

Tyson, who was photographed in Dubai in February last year with the US sanctioned Kinahan, said: "Because I had my picture taken with a man it doesn’t make me a criminal."

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