Bob Arum Admits He Regrets Working With Daniel Kinahan

Bob Arum has regrets that he ever worked with Daniel Kinahan.

Kinahan remains wanted by Irish and American authorities for his links to criminality after being named the head of the Kinahan Organized Crime Gang. Before that, Kinahan was vocal for his support of boxing and worked with Arum, which the promoter regrets as Kinahan made it clear that he was going to clean up his act.

“He told me that he was getting into boxing because he’d done bad things in the past and wanted to reform himself,” Arum told The Irish Mirror. “He told me that he wanted to clean up his name because he wanted to be a role model for his kids and I believed him.”

There was a report that Daniel Kinahan could buy Top Rank from Bob Arum, but he says that was never going to happen.

“That never, ever happened,” said Arum. “Maybe he was thinking about it in his head, but he never approached us – and that’s the last thing we would have done.”

Ultimately, when U.S. authorities sanctioned Kinahan it did surprise Bob Arum as he had no idea what the Irishman did. But, once that happened, he made it clear that he regrets working with the Irishman.

“Now, apparently, that wasn’t the case. If that wasn’t the case, then [U.S. President Joe] Biden wouldn’t have brought in the sanctions on Kinahan. I’m not a naive guy, I have a law background and was in the Justice Department. I bought into what Kinahan told me because I didn’t see anything to the contrary. Once Biden brought in the sanctions, I said, ‘Whoa, I missed what was going on.’ So, sure, in that respect, I have regrets.” 

What do you make of Bob Arum’s comments about Daniel Kinahan?