On A Friday night in January, 2019, it became clear that the ban was over.
It happened when Ryan Tubridy made the introduction and Michael Conlan walked out as the first guest on that edition of The Late Late Show.
It would be another couple of weeks until MTK Global made the official announcement.
But Conlan’s Late Late appearance showed that they were bringing an end to their ban on boxers giving interviews to Irish media south of the border.
That odd media ban sums up the way a very odd company operates.
It worked too, in a different way to whatever way that they’d planned, as the boycott forced many to look into the company’s background, and how it was built.
That led to many hard questions. When Daniel Kinahan is part of your origin story, that’s always going to be the case.
And those questions aren’t going to magically disappear just because MTK say Kinahan no longer owns the company, or because that strange ban is over, or because Kinahan is an ‘advisor’ to MTK boxers, rather than their boss.
In a typically-daft and grandiose move, MTK announced that their media ban would expire at midnight on January 29, 2019.
Presumably, they then readied themselves for press queries at 12.01am...
A statement accompanied the end of the ban. Here are a couple of lines from it.
“We are a truly global company but Irish boxing will always remain close to the heart of MTK. It would be nice to be free to operate there as we do in every other country in the world and my hope is that the Irish press will support our efforts to do so,’’ said MTK Global President, Bob Yalen.
So they wanted support. The wanted cheerleading, not reporting.
But many, rightly, wonder where the money to build MTK came from. Those questions didn’t disappear with the media ban.
Tonight should be one of the biggest in the recent history of Irish boxing. Conlan will take on Leigh Wood in Nottingham and at stake is the WBA world featherweight title belt.
Well, it’s the ‘regular’ title. The WBA have a ‘super’ one too, which is held by Leo Santa Cruz. That’s the weird way boxing operates.
It’s nearly 10 years since Conlan became one of the most high profile figures in Irish sport.
Himself and Paddy Barnes would take bronze at the 2012 Olympics and they were quite a double act — the Belfast Blood Brothers.
Posing for selfies with Usain Bolt; winding up Marty Morrissey in RTE interviews; bossing the ring in the ExCel Arena; telling the world that they were going on holiday together to Bundoran — and then slipping off to Ibiza.
Conlan would go on to become the first Irish male fighter to become an amateur world champion. In 2015, he was named RTE Sportsperson of the Year, finishing ahead of the likes of Paul O’Connell, Rory McIlroy, Conor McGregor and Jack McCaffrey in the voting.
A year later, he went to Rio as one of the favourites to take Olympic gold. We all remember what happened when he came up against Vladimir Nikitin of Russia. Even Nikitin looked stunned when his left hand was raised in victory, slumping to his knees on the canvas.
Conlan’s reaction was to pull off his vest and throw his arms about, prowling around the ring, and giving a middle finger salute. Up in the stands, Barnes, the Ireland captain, was just as animated, gesturing towards the seats where the judges were perched.
We were to never see Conlan in an Irish vest again. He expected his swansong as an amateur to come on a podium, standing tall to Amhrán na bhFiann, facing the tricolour with precious hardware around his neck.
The decision made no sense, and Conlan called out the judges, the AIBA, the sport itself. His action has been described by ESPN as having changed amateur boxing forever.
There was so much goodwill towards Conlan then. Now look where we are.
Ordinarily, last weekend’s Sunday newspapers would have carried previews of an Irish boxer’s world title fight. There wasn’t a word on Conlan v Wood.
Off the Ball on Newstalk carried 30 hours of content this week, covering many different aspects of Irish sport. Conlan’s name wasn’t mentioned once.
Later in the week, a couple of pieces appeared in papers and online but this wasn’t what we would have expected in 2016 if we were told Conlan would be fighting for a world title.
North of the border, it’s business as usual. Plenty of media coverage of the fight, no hard questions asked. According to promoter Eddie Hearn, 3000 Irish fans will be in Nottingham cheering Conlan on. The vast majority will be from Belfast.
It’s not hard to figure out why interest in Conlan’s fortunes south of the border has dipped.
Conlan is still listed on their website as an MTK fighter, but it’s been reported that he has cut ties with them. In January, questions were sent to Conlan Boxing seeking to clarify the situation. There was no response.
His trainer, Adam Booth, works for MTK. Wood is an MTK fighter. His trainer, Ben Davison, works for MTK and has been vocal in his praise for Daniel Kinahan’s involvement in the sport.
To many in Ireland, anyone associated with Kinahan is beyond the pale.
Across the water, the Fight Disciples podcast sent a list of questions to Kinahan this week and he replied by email, with his answers broadcast on Thursday.
Kinahan painted himself as a benevolent figure in the sport, with only the interest of the fighters in his heart and he talked of how one of his goals has always been more transparency in boxing.
We’d all welcome that, and Kinahan could make a start by answering questions from journalists — not YouTubers.
Conlan spoke this week of what winning the belt would mean to him, and mentioned his belief that Ireland was behind him.
If only that were the case, if only so many haven’t become indifferent. There’s one man to blame for that. We all know who.
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