A new BBC series has explored the lawsuit that saw former boxing advisor-alleged international drug cartel boss Daniel Kinahan served with a lawsuit that should cost him some $10m.

Last September, a judge ordered Kinahan to pay Heredia Boxing Management, owned by brothers Moses and Ralph Heredia,  $9.7m following the culmination of a four-year lawsuit, and Heredia was interviewed as part of the new series on the BBC, titled Kinahan: The True Story of Ireland’s Mafia.

The lawsuit contended that Kinahan and his boxing company, MTK Global, had poached Jojo Diaz, whom manager Heredia felt had been more than a fighter to him.

“Around 2009, that’s when I met Jojo Diaz. I’m at the gym training, he comes in, starts hitting the bag, and you just know, the kid has the swag,” Heredia told the BBC. “You just know he was going somewhere.

“My phone was open for this kid 24/7. I was everything to this kid, for me he was like my son. We signed him to a contract; he was going to go professional… January 2020, we finally got the world title shot… You dream about it; you dream about this moment for years. When the moment came, Jojo showed up… The journey, the hard work, the sweat, just putting up, the good, the bad, the ugly, it was well worth it, and the feeling was incredible. One of my proudest moments. And I was very proud of Jojo.”

But Diaz’s head was allegedly turned by Kinahan, something that clearly frustrates Heredia to this day. He told the BBC he was angry going back over it, and recalled how he found out.

“MTK have signed him? Without my knowledge? They didn’t have the balls to fucking call me or anything about it,” Heredia said. “I received a text. A fucking text. How could this happen? We had a contract. We have a contract with this kid, how is it possible? Who’s got the balls to come and do something like this? It was Daniel Kinahan; an individual that likes to steal fighters when they’re already fucking made… He came to America, he came to the States, stole a fighter, so the only thing to do was fight, and sue his ass.”

Heredia said he was not concerned by Kinahan’s reputation and said someone was sent to him to broker an agreement between them, saying they wanted to work together. But Heredia was not interested in a reconciliation. 

Instead, using RICO laws – associated with laundering ‘dirty’ money into ‘clean’ money – he sued Kinahan for damages, and claimed “future earnings and dreams were shattered by the scumbags.”

“This shit hurts, man,” said Heredia.

Heredia’s legal team served Kinahan a complaint in Dubai, where it is believed Kinahan still lives, and the US government took notice. 

So did the judge, making the award in Heredia’s favor. But getting the $9.7m could be another challenge altogether.   

“We’ve got to go out and find where his goodies are hiding,” Heredia said, referring to Kinahan’s assets. “Cause he’s got plenty. Oh, he’s got plenty.”

A lawyer for the Kinahans told the BBC “rumors” and “theories” about them have not been tested in court… “and a ‘massive investigation’ by five countries ended with a dismissal of the main charges against them.”