This afternoon, Tyson Fury posted a video to his social media feeds announcing terms had finally been agreed for the proverbial 'fight of the century', the long-awaited fight between himself and Anthony Joshua.
The power broker in the negotiations, as we have been told many times over the past months, is his promoter Daniel Kinahan.
In the video, Fury praises Kinahan for helping make the two fight series happen, although no details or dates for the fights were released, and contracts are still be signed.
Fury says:
"Hello there, I'm just getting off the phone there with Daniel Kinahan, who just informed me that the biggest fight in British boxing history has been agreed. Get in there my boy! Big shout out Dan! He literally got this done."
You can watch the video here.
It’s official FURY VS JOSUAR AGREED FOR NEXT YEAR, I got to smash @bronzebomber first then I’ll annihilate @anthonyfjoshua #WEARESPARTANS
MASSIVE THANKS TO DANIEL KINNERHAN FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN.🙏🏻👍🏻 god bless pic.twitter.com/18FfVKfCax— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) June 10, 2020
Fury also managed to misspell his promoter's surname in a follow-up appreciation tweet, which was unfortunate for anyone looking to copy and paste Kinahan's name from the tweet and google him.
It’s official FURY VS JOSUAR AGREED FOR NEXT YEAR,
I got to smash @bronzebomber first then I’ll annihilate @anthonyfjoshua #WEARESPARTANS MASSIVE THANKS TO DANIEL KINNERHAN FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN.🙏🏻👍🏻 god bless @… https://t.co/GesKkS7di1— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) June 10, 2020
Many things have been written about Kinahan in the past month, but perhaps nothing as matter-of-fact as this from Paul Reynolds of RTÉ:
The Criminal Assets Bureau said he "controlled and managed" the operations of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, an organisation which smuggles drugs and guns into Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe and "has associations that facilitate international criminal activity in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America".
The British vs Irish divide on Kinahan was best captured in an enthusiastic tweet about the fight from Amol Rajan, who's the BBC's media editor and someone you'd think might be informed about such matters, and the Irish replies it inspired.
Yes yes! Cannot wait for this https://t.co/cliHilwUEi
— Amol Rajan (@amolrajan) June 10, 2020
This evening, there were initial signs that Fury's video had inspired some UK sports writers to read up on Kinahan's background.
However, judging from this exchange between Steve Bunce and James Corrigan of the Telegraph, it seems uncertain that Kinahan will become a larger part of the story of this pending fight.
The fight being agreed was the issue - that is what was discussed. Sorry if it dipped below your high standards. Shameful and pathetic are a bit strong. I have been banned, sued, attacked, stopped from making a living, lost in court, won in court. Cheers.
— Steve Bunce (@bigdaddybunce) June 10, 2020
