Reply With QuoteWhat channel? Sounds right up my street, fascinating stuff.
If anyone is into their boxing well worth watching ‘Boxing and the Mob’ was on tonight on BBC, will find it on catch up.
I won’t go into too much detail but bloody interesting and definitely an eye opener. Boxing has/will always have links with the criminal underworld, i remember, Tony Tucker of the infamous Essex boys gang walking in Nigel Benn in one of his fights, that went under the radar so to speak. This documentary highlights what has gone on recently, won’t spoil it give it a watch........
What channel? Sounds right up my street, fascinating stuff.
Really was a riveting watch, I’ve an Irish connection so doubly interesting with the main people in it.Originally Posted by rico
Speaking of BBC sport based docs...Did anybody else watch Lance?
Fascinating viewing.
Good grief
Serious stuff. I hope Barry McGuigan doesn't get whacked off the back of what he's said.
I watched the Lance documentaries. I don't think there was anything new in them for those who have followed time, but it was well balanced in comparison to most programs about him.
He attracts the crazies from all sides.
I did and it was a fascinating watch.
Haven’t seen it; def one for the watch list though.
Exactly! I followed the Frampton trial but hadn’t realised who was actually behind MTK Global.
I was at the Nigel Benn Vs Gerald McClellan fight in 1995, at the end of fight a man jumped onto the outside of the ring to try to congratulate Benn and a burly security guard tried to stop him but he got right hooked by this man. For some reason this stuck in my mind. It was not until later in the year when the Essex Boys was in the headlines that I recognised Tony Tucker as the man at the Benn fight.
It was an interesting watch. Their influence goes right to the top
The brazen attempts at bumping off the competition were hard to believe.
One fight I wish i had gone to, been lucky to have been at some great fights over the years but that one was something else- i’ve watched a couple of documentaries about the nights events and Benns training ,leading up to the fight, Tucker features quite heavily in them, just shows you the circles that Benn was mixing in back in his hey day.
Quite scary hope much influence that they actually have, we all know boxing and the criminal underworld goes hand in hand, but even i was shocked at the level of power that they command. At least Barry Mcguigan spoke out, you could see in his face he was holding back though. Will be interesting what repercussions we see after last nights program. At a guess it’ll be swept under the carpet, too much money being pumped into the sport by MTK.
It was a really interesting watch & seemed to stack up to a very cohesive story, but I was surprised to see the Beeb presenting something with very little if any concrete evidence.
Police & newspaper reporters stating "I'm sure this is how it is, I've just not yet been able to make it stick" seemed a bit weak.
They’re the biggest racket out there!
They certainly tried to get their own back on Tyson. That’s what you get when you dis SPoTY, payback from the beeb!!!
He’s a lad with profound mental health needs which nearly cost him his life. But he really shouldn’t focus on getting better and winning world titles, he needs to be vetting every unsavoury person who wants to speak with him. It’s boxing!!!
Don't be ridiculous. This programme has been years in the making; they didn't just knock it together in a month in order to get at Fury.
Maybe, who knows. But years in the making and this is one month after. I enjoyed it, pure speculation though, but why so much focus on Tyson? It was a running theme.
Now, if he’’’d got up a month ago at SPOTY and thanked everyone at the beeb. Shook hands with Gary et al and gave a speech with a tear in his eye, whist again saying just what a great institution the beeb is. Do we think last night’’s panorama would have been edited in that way.
I get that Tyson could be seen as the picture of ‘toxic masculinity’ by the beeb. But would they have treated another celebrity, who wasn’t so big, burly in the same way. Suicide is the biggest killer for young men and Tyson was deeply ill and nearly didn’t make it. Does he need this speciation now?
Last edited by Rodder; 2nd February 2021 at 19:34.
Boxing and the Mob isn't new as shown in Raging Bull (Jake La Motta biopic), there is plenty of stories about Sonny Liston and Don King with ties to the mob.
Boxing in the UK during 70's/80's was monopolised by 3 people Micky Duff, Terry Lawless & Mike Barrett they were either the promoter, match maker, manager or trainer of a fighter. A then up an coming boxing manager/promoter Frank Warren was shot in 1989, no doubt someone didn't like the "new" guy, also he owned the London arena where future boxing and other sporting events were going to be held.
The boxing industry generates over £100 to 200 million a year, journalists and boxers have said "boxing is not a sport it's a business".
Was a good watch, fair play to Barry McGuigan for saying his piece...
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I love boxing as a sport and the program was good to watch, but it’s fair to say boxing attracts a disproportionate number of unsavoury characters. It is a business at the end of the day and certain characters will do what it takes to come out on top.
I believe Barry McGuigan did the right thing by speaking out, it’s for his own publicity, protection and security, all eyes on me style. It sounds like he is loosing boxers for commercial reasons, so his model will have to change.
All sport is business. I don't understand why anyone would think differently.
We all know sport is a business, I think what was eye opening for me was the scale of control that MTK has/had, quite clearly the money being pumped in, purely for laundering purposes.
Hats off to Barry speaking out on camera- He was always a voice during the troubles in Ireland, on the end numerous IRA death threats etc...
Last edited by Rob153; 3rd February 2021 at 13:58.
If you listened to the commentary, it was not speculation at all.
There were quite a few court documents that stated unequivocally that the evidence showed a clear involvement of the family in various illegal dealings.
The Beeb (nor anyone else) would not have made those claims without the backing of other evidence for fear of libel being claimed agaisnt them.
And it would seem telling that they issued a denial statement, but have not claimed defamation.
It is quite an interesting means of laundering money, pumping money into boxers and promotions, then reaping clean TV money off the back of it.
It was very interesting, however, I did think that this was a 30 minute programme padded out into an hour.
D
ps - who came up with the idea of going in drag to perform an assasination? You couldn't dream it up.
I'm watching it tonight. A lad I went to school with had to disappear for a few years. He went to Tenerife and said Tucker ran the place.
An interesting watch. Kinahan is a very clever man.
An interesting watch. Thanks for the heads up!!!
Brave Barry eh. Rather him than me!
The enemy of my enemy is my friend = Kinahan - Hutch - McGuigan.
And let’s hope that feud doesn’t get ignited again, it’ll never go away, always simmering- Dublin doesn’t need another ‘tit for tat’ killing spree.
Watched it last night . A very interesting programme , thanks for the heads up
New development.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55956375
Was always going to be some fallout, not really much info at all ‘unspecified threat’ could mean absolutely anything. I would imagine Panorama reporters have had their fair share of threats over the years.
Thinking about the timescales here, and it is much more likely that Fury's refusal of SPotY was as a result of the preparation of this documentary, and not the other way round (as argued above). They are bound to have approached Fury for comment, at least.
The whole "I don't need recognition" stuff he came up with in December seemed a bit odd at the time, perhaps he was shunning the Beeb for investigating his "friend".
100% it’s connected but which way round is anyone’s guess. I think the only one that knows how Tysons brain works is Tyson himself, and then sometimes he doesn’t even know.... My guess is that you’re right, shunning the Beeb out of some sense of loyalty to his advisor/friend.
Was an interesting watch. On the SPOTY point, Tyson definitely knew about the show coming to life by then...
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/t...mand-slr7pg5rw
Most definitely across the board.
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