Bob Arum hits out at ‘bull****’ claims about his relationship with former Tyson Fury associate Daniel Kinahan amid £19m lawsuit… as he admits he fell for the drugs baron’s lies

Daniel Kinahan brokered deals for several fights involving Tyson Fury

The drugs cartel boss was sanctioned by the US government in 2022

Bob Arum has admitted he fell for Kinahan’s lies about changing his ways

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has denied that he was kept in the dark about his company’s relationship with drugs baron Daniel Kinahan.

Kinahan was sanctioned by the US government in 2022 for his role as the boss of a drugs cartel based in Dubai, but had previously been welcomed into the boxing community after claiming he had changed his ways.

He was involved in brokering a deal for Tyson Fury’s second and third fights against Deontay Wilder, as well as the Gypsy King’s bouts against Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin in 2019.

Those fights came about after Fury signed a promotional deal with Arum’s Top Rank promotional company.

However, a $25m (£19m) lawsuit has been filed in California’s Federal Court claiming Top Rank president Todd duBoef hid his dealings with Kinahan from Arum and Top Rank’s broadcasting partner ESPN.

The lawsuit alleges that duBoef reached out to Kinahan behind Arum’s back to get Fury to sign for Top Rank to keep ESPN happy.

Drugs baron Daniel Kinahan (pictured) was sanctioned by the US government in 2022

He had previously brokered deals for several fights involving Tyson Fury (right)

A lawsuit has claimed Top Rank CEO and founder Bob Arum was kept in the dark about his company’s dealing with Kinahan, but he has denied that was the case

But Arum, 93, is adamant that was not the case, and insists that he and ESPN knew about Kinahan’s involvement all along.

Arum fired back at the claims in the lawsuit, telling The Irish Sun: ‘That is total bull****. It’s not true. Everybody knew about it, everybody was part of it. This is absolutely crazy. We made the deal with Kinahan but everybody was on board, me included.

‘Nobody did anything behind my back. Todd was always involved in it and Todd flew to Dubai with me.

‘The picture that’s painted, “here was this old man and all these people are scheming behind his back making the deal with Kinahan” and so forth. That’s not true. To say that this was done without my knowledge is crazy – or without the knowledge of ESPN, that’s nuts. Of course ESPN were aware.’

Arum was repeatedly told by reporters that Kinahan was still involved with organised crime while they were working together, but he only severed ties with the Irishman when the US government imposed their sanctions three years ago.

Arum conceded he fell for Kinahan’s lies, and added that he would have steered clear of him if he had been aware of the full picture.

‘Remember at the time, things around his reputation were debatable,’ Arum added. ‘I fell for the thing he was a bad guy but he had changed and he had gone legit.

‘But again, nobody went behind my back. If I was the fool, it’s on me. If I had known what I do about Kinahan now, I wouldn’t have touched him with a 10-foot pole. None of us would have.’