Cops probe 'Irish Mafia' fight nights ... Ex-lawyer's ring links to Dublin bloodbath gang ... Business 'twinned' with crime clan gym
A BOXING gym at the centre of a bloodbath gang war has a foothold in Scotland after hooking up with a former corporate lawyer.
Sam Kynoch, 29, brags about his ties to the MGM base in Spain, which is run by Daniel Kinahan — heir to a £500million Irish crime empire.
The ex-solicitor's MGM Scotland describes itself as the 'sister business' of the Marbella gym and he is gearing up to promote fights in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
But police will monitor the shows after hitmen with AK-47s blasted a Kinahan gang enforcer to death nine days ago at a boxing weigh-in in Dublin.
Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson MSP said: "Given the apparent association between these organisations, one would hope the authorities were focusing on any implications for Scotland."
The former elite cop commander added: "I am sure the police will look very closely at this relationship."
Boxing coach Kinahan, 37, was the suspected target of the Irish shooting.
He is the son of Christy 'Dapper Don' Kinahan, 57, who heads a global crime syndicate with links to the Lanarkshire-based Lyons clan.
Kynoch's MGM Scotland, based in Kinning Park, Glasgow, is described on its website as the country's biggest boxing gym.
He also owns MGM Promotions Scotland which will stage bouts at Glasgow's Bellahouston Sports Centre on February 27 and the 'Rise of the Champions' at Meadowbank Sports Centre in the capital on March 12.
The registered owner of his firm's website is the Marbella gym linked to the Dublin Kinahan mob — one of Europe's largest gangland operations.
And the site describes MGM Scotland as "twinned" with the Spanish set-up.
One Scots boxing source said: "Numerous organised crime gangs are prominent in the boxing scene here but for MGM in Marbella to have this foothold is worrying.
"There's no suggestion that Kynoch is involved in any wrongdoing but there's a danger that he could find it difficult if there was ever any disagreement with the Marbella mob."
Six gunmen disguised as a police SWAT team and a woman stormed Dublin's Regency hotel during a weigh-in before MGM's 'Clash of the Clans' title fight. The assault rifle crew killed Kinahan henchman David Byrne, 33, and injured two others.
But Daniel Kinahan escaped the February 5 mayhem by diving out a window.
Three days later, rival hood Eddie Hutch snr, 59, was gunned down in his Dublin home in a revenge attack.
Low-level criminal Hutch was the brother of major hood Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch — chief suspect in two of Ireland's biggest armed robberies, which he denies.
The Monk's son Gary was shot dead in Spain last year, allegedly on the orders of the Kinahan gang.
On the day TV viewers witnessed the Regency hotel horror, Kynoch brought US boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather to Glasgow.
Fans paid up to £450 to hear the world's highest-paid athlete being interviewed by ex-boxer Johnny Nelson at the city's riverside Crowne Plaza hotel.
A giant banner on stage behind the pair highlighted the links between Scotland and Spain. It was emblazoned with 'Macklin's Gym Marbella' and 'MGM Promotions Scotland'.
Former Irish, British and European Middleweight Champion Matthew Macklin founded the Marbella gym and is regularly seen with the Kinahans — but he is not involved in crime.
Kynoch's company website states: "MGM Scotland was previously known as the SK Boxing Gym and in 2015 rebranded as MGM Scotland, having twinned with the world-famous MGM Marbella.
"The relationship between the MGM Scotland and MGM Marbella gyms stems from Sam Kynoch (founder of the SK Boxing Gym) taking a team of boxers over to the Marbella gym for a training camp."
And MGM Scotland's Twitter account describes Kynoch's operation as the 'sister' to the Costa del Sol set-up.
Last year The Scottish Sun on Sunday revealed that feared Cumbernauld-based underworld outfit the Lyons had formed links with Kinahan's gang in Spain.
Lyons hitman Billy 'Buff' Paterson, 36, was shielded by the Irish mob while on the run for murder for almost five years.
Both Paterson and Steven Lyons, 35, partied with major Scots and Irish crooks on the Costa del Sol.
Lyons fled to Spain in the wake of a 2006 gun attack by hitmen from the rival Daniel family. He was wounded in the shooting at an MOT centre in Lambhill, Glasgow, which killed his cousin Michael Lyons, 21.
Paterson was finally jailed in 2015 for at least 22 years for blasting Daniel mob enforcer Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, 29, to death outside an Asda supermarket in 2010.
Lyons later sneaked back into Scotland to try to repair the fractured Lyons mob.
We also revealed that, while Paterson was on the run, the Daniel mob called off an attempt to shoot him in Spain after learning of the Kinahan connection.
And Scots cops believe that the country's most wanted man, Derek 'Deco' Ferguson, is being helped by Kinahan's Europe-wide criminal network.
Ferguson — being probed over the 2007 murder of a Glasgow barman — is now thought to be an enforcer for the Irish mob.
One source said: "By linking up with the Kinahan gang, the Lyons went up several divisions. But they are still small fry compared to the big English and Irish gangs. "Nonetheless, the cops will be very interested in the connection. They will be determined to prevent Kinahan from extending his reach into Scotland."
Kynoch, who used to work for top law firm Dundas and Wilson, refused to discuss his firm's links with MGM.
But a source close to the Perth-born promoter said that both boxing events would go ahead as planned Police Scotland said: "We are aware of the proposed events, which will be policed appropriately."
SPORT'S DARK SIDE
Thug promoter Barry Hughes, 37, is a crony of feared gangland boss Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson, 50.
Hughes, of Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, courts publicity as a self-styled business tycoon.
But he has a string of convictions for violence, fraud, money laundering and carrying a knife.
Two years ago he enjoyed a £50,000 Dubai holiday weeks before he went bust owing the taxman £9.8million.
Fellow fight promoter Mario Rea, 37, is serving a seven-year government ban from running any business.
He was struck off after failing to explain where £578,406 paid into his property firm's bank accounts had appeared from. Rea and his twin Carlo were convicted of attacking members of the Lyons crime gang.
The web of violence also featured a chilling blade attack on Mario by a thug from the rival mob.
Two years ago, a boxing club in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, run by drug-cheat boxer Craig Windsor, 31, was handed a £2,000 National Lottery grant.
In 2012 Windsor was banned from boxing for three years and nine months by UK Anti-Doping for using illicit steroids.
First published in The Scottish Sun on February 14, 2016:
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