There's some seismic news in the boxing world this afternoon as MTK Global have confirmed they are ceasing operations.
The company once described itself as 'the world's foremost boxer management company'. It released a statement this afternoon, saying the 'business has faced unprecedented levels of unfair scrutiny and criticism since the sanctioning by the US government of Daniel Joseph Kinahan' and will close at the end of the month.
In a statement, the company against stated that Kinahan has had no involvement in the company since 2017.
The company says it has no choice but to close down at the end of April because 'leading promoters have now informed us that they will be severing all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters'.
The MTK Global website now only features the text of today's statement. All other links to the site's pages - such as its About page or the pages of the fighters it represents - are blank.
MTK Global was co-founded ten years ago by Daniel Kinahan - who now faces a $5 million reward for his arrest.
It will be fascinating to see what the boxers represented by MTK Global - many of whom who are Irish - will do next.
In 2018, MTK Global organised the 'Fair News campaign', whereby its boxers boycotted the Irish media because it chose to report on links between Daniel Kinahan and MTK boxers.
In a statement in February 2018, it said:
"We will no longer issue press releases. Our team and athletes will no longer participate in interviews. Media from the Republic of Ireland will no longer be welcome at any MTK Global hosted events. We will provide no further comment to any media from the Republic of Ireland on any matters, be it sporting or business."
Today's announcement is massive news but not quite surprising. The company's CEO Bob Yalen announced he was stepping back from the company yesterday.
In a statement he said:
However, the pressure of the last few weeks has been particularly intense. I need to consider the impact on myself and my family. So after four years leading MTK, I think it’s time for me to step aside to take on new challenges.”
Writing in The Times (UK) today, Matt Lawton quoted an anonymous source within the company who said the boxing firm was on the 'brink of collapse'
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