Here lies a now boarded-up underground site where mob boss Daniel Kinahan’s boxing gym once stood

Here lies a now boarded-up underground site where mob boss Daniel Kinahan’s boxing gym once stood.

Our sister title The Star visited what is now a dishevelled, abandoned unit in the heart of Marbella in Spain where Kinahan’s major boxing company ‘MTK Global’ first got off the ground.

We were stuck by how the site has now fallen into disrepair, with blank signposts and boarded-up windows depicting the fall of the mobster’s influence and power in the area.

Read more: Man whose villa was named as Kinahan cartel HQ insists he's no gangster and mob claim is a mystery

Back in 2012, Kinahan co-founded the gym with boxer Matthew Macklin under the banner ‘MGM Marbella.’

It then grew into a boxing powerhouse, recruiting the likes of Olympic boxers Michael Conlon and Paddy Barnes to its name - and later two-time world heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson Fury.

For a while, it seemed Daniel Kinahan was on top of the world.

The surrounding area to MTK Global a boxing and MMA management and event promotions company founded by drug-trafficker Daniel Kinahan and former professional boxer Matthew Mack the Knife Macklin situated in Marbella Spain. (Mick ONeill..)

But now MTK Global itself has at least publicly denounced Kinahan and claimed it has cut all ties with the mobster in the wake of the international sanctions against him.

Kinahan’s desperate urge to be seen as a major figure in world boxing has also taken a knockout punch after the US Treasury Department announced the unprecedented sanctions against him.

The significance of the shut-down Marbella gym serves as the perfect metaphor for much of what has happened to Kinahan in recent years.

And standing outside its entrance this week, the Star's Crime Correspondent Michael O’Toole explained: “This was the site where Daniel Kinahan began his campaign of sports-washing himself, changing his reputation from that of a drugs baron, to the ‘Mr Fix It’ of sport internationally.

“He worked really hard at it, and we’ve seen over the last couple of years all the efforts he’s made, all of the people who have come out and batted for him publicly.

Photo Shows: The former entrance to MTK Global a boxing and MMA management and event promotions company founded by drug-trafficker Daniel Kinahan and former professional boxer Matthew Mack the Knife Macklin situated in Marbella Spain. Date: 15/04/22 Photo By: Mick ONeill (Mick ONeill..)

“But I think this now is a metaphor for what has happened to Kinahan.

“Look, it’s fallen into disrepair, it's empty and it hasn’t been used in years, and I think that really just shows how, especially in the last week, Kinahan’s plans for domination in sport and boxing really have collapsed.”

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