Boxing champion Billy Joe Saunders has lashed out at press reports about alleged criminal involvement by Daniel Kinahan, the Irishman thought to have been pivotal in superfight negotiations between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
WBO super-middleweight champion Saunders, who had his boxing licence suspended in March for posting a video in which he told men how to hit their female partners, has reacted angrily to a newspaper report alleging that Kinahan was of interest to police as part of a triple murder plot investigation.
Responding to the story, which showed Kinahan in a t-shirt bearing the logo of the MGM Marbella gym which Saunders is signed to, the unbeaten southpaw claimed that inaccurate media reports could make people want to end their own lives.
"If this man committed suicide, who would be held responsible?" Saunders asked his Twitter following of more than 152,000.
"Give the bullsh*t stories a rest."
Earlier in the week, Saunders had called Kinahan the "key to the party" in arranging an all-British heavyweight contest between Fury and Joshua that could net both men $125 million by creating one of the most momentous fights in boxing history.
"Hats off lads, well done," he added, recalling his own experience of entering negotiations with promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren when he fought for the British and Commonwealth titles in 2013. "Without him, the fight wouldn't be made."
Saunders' scorn for the scrutiny given to Kinahan came as part of a typically provocative series of social media posts in which the controversial 30-year-old added to the uncertainty surrounding his own future by announcing: "Like to thank boxing for all it has done for me."
The retirement hint carried echoes of former UFC champion Conor McGregor's apparent decision to end his career last week, although fans could be forgiven for reacting as skeptically to Saunders' words as they did to those from the equally hot-tempered McGregor.
A photo of Saunders in his changing room before a fight, posted on his Twitter feed and an Instagram account dedicated to professional traveler boxers, subsequently spoke of his mooted challenge to unified champion Canelo Alvarez, calling Saunders "the man that would beat Canelo and still get no credit."
Readers variously claimed Saunders was seeking attention, ducking fights against the likes of Canelo and Gennady Golovkin and capable of extending his perfect 29-fight record against any of his rivals.
"You're the biggest waste of talent ever seen," said one critic.
"Shame you try to be the class clown – you really could have gone down in history."
Saunders, who is a close ally of Fury, also accused bodybuilder Micky Theo of attempting to steal the limelight from the WBC champion by challenging his father, John, to a fight between veterans.
"Tyson Fury is one of the richest sports stars in the UK so I'm sure [John] doesn't need a few quid," said Saunders, offering to donate around $61,000 to the National Health Service in the UK should the match-up materialize.
"If anyone's got a problem with John, I'm sure he'd be happy to settle it in the true gypsy way – jump out and have a scrap.
"Come to London and have it on my property. Traveling men fight until the other one surrenders. I'd be happy to have it at mine."
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