- American exec Bob Yalen refused to talk about his prior association with an alleged crime boss.
- Insider spoke to Yalen at the boxing Hall of Fame ceremonies ahead of his induction Sunday.
- He said he "can't comment" about reputed narcoterrorist Daniel Kinahan. "I just can't get into it."
CANASTOTA, N.Y. — A boxing Hall of Fame inductee refused to talk about his past association with an alleged cocaine kingpin when Insider approached him Friday.
Bob Yalen was given the sport's highest honor over the weekend when he was enshrined permanently in the Canastota museum in upstate New York.
When asked three questions about his work with MTK Global and prior affiliation with Daniel Kinahan, Yalen said he could make no comment.
Born in 1958, Yalen took an interest in boxing from a young age and became a statistician and recordkeeper for the sport in the early 1980s. Combined with his work as a historian, he was also a programmer and producer for ABC Sports, ESPN, and NBC Sports.
He was given the BWAA prize for excellence in broadcast journalism in 1993 and was already leading a Hall of Fame-worthy career before becoming CEO of MTK Global in 2018.
MTK Global was co-founded as MGM Marbella years prior by the former boxer Matthew Macklin and the reputed Irish crime boss Kinahan.
'I can't comment … I just can't get into it,' Yalen told us
There is no suggestion Macklin or Yalen are linked to any criminality.
Kinahan has never been convicted of a crime.
The accused figurehead of an organized crime group is currently wanted by US authorities as, in April, the US government publicly placed economic sanctions on Kinahan, saying he "sources large quantities of cocaine from South America" to distribute into Ireland.
The US State Department said Kinahan's Organized Crime Group has interests in hard drugs and weapons. And according to a special criminal court in Ireland, it has practiced execution-style murders, as Insider previously detailed.
MTK Global has insisted over the years that Kinahan has stepped away from the company, but it announced two months ago that it would cease operations at the end of April.
Yalen told Mike Coppinger in a story for The Athletic in 2020 that: "Daniel's going to be taking time away from the sport to focus on other interests.
"Hopefully this will put a stop to the negative press … that's based entirely on hearsay."
Insider reported that Kinahan never took time away from boxing and wielded enough influence in the months and years to come that he would arguably have been one of the most powerful people in the game at the peak of his boxing career.
We asked Yalen whether he regrets making that comment — that media reports were based on hearsay — given that politicians, law enforcement officials, and now the US government have all said Kinahan is an alleged organized crime boss.
"I can't comment," he told us. "I just can't get into it."
Yalen resigned from MTK citing 'pressure'
The Irish Sun's crime reporter Stephen Breen wrote this month that "investigations into MTK's dealings" with Kinahan will continue despite the company ceasing operations at the end of April.
We asked Yalen for his comment on this news.
"I've got nothing to do with MTK. I resigned from the company," he said while gesturing as if he was washing his hands with the matter.
Yalen resigned from MTK Global in April citing "pressure of the last few weeks" following the US sanctions on Kinahan.
He said at the time his resignation was for "personal reasons."
