Chaos at Kilkenny Influencer Boxing Show
What was billed as a night of “influencer boxing and live entertainment” in Kilkenny descended into chaos on Saturday, as a staged stunt involving far-right agitator Tommy Robinson ignited a series of violent brawls that forced the event’s cancellation.
Gardaí were called to The Hub in Cillín Hill at around 9pm after fighting broke out ringside, spilled into the ring and then tore through the crowd. Two men were arrested and one man, in his 30s, was taken to St Luke’s Hospital after being badly injured.
Flying kick into the crowd
The flashpoint came immediately after British influencer and so‑called celebrity boxer Mo Deen, real name Mohammad Kubba, had his hand raised in victory. Instead of celebrating in the ring, Deen vaulted out of it and launched himself feet-first at Robinson, who was seated in the front row.
The flying kick sent bodies tumbling and lit the fuse on a mass brawl in the crowd. Punches were thrown, people surged towards the front, and security struggled to contain the disorder as dozens became involved.
Robinson was then ushered into the ring for a face-off with Deen, a made-for-social-media moment designed to tease a potential future bout between the pair. The confrontation was orchestrated by British influencer HSTikkyTokky, whose real name is Harrison Sullivan, the owner and founder of Unhinged Productions, which had promoted the Kilkenny show.
The atmosphere, already febrile, darkened further.
Book thrown, night collapses
Once inside the ropes, Robinson produced a book about Britain’s grooming gangs, brought into the ring as a prop. He hurled it at Deen. That single act detonated a second mass fight, this time inside the ring itself.
Again, the violence spilled outwards. The ring became a flashpoint, then a bridge, as fighters, entourages and sections of the crowd clashed. The sense of spectacle vanished, replaced by fear and confusion as spectators tried to pull back or get out.
With order breaking down and fights flaring in multiple pockets around the arena, organisers scrapped the remainder of the card. The headline bout never took place. The show was over, replaced by sirens and statements.
Garda headquarters later confirmed that officers attended the scene after “violence broke out ringside, in the ring and then through the assembled spectators”. A man in his 30s was assaulted and removed from the venue to St Luke’s Hospital. Another man, in his 20s, was arrested and detained under Section 4 at a Garda station in the southeast. A second arrest was made of an adult male in his teens for violent disorder.
Investigations are under way, with Gardaí examining CCTV from the venue and video clips of the fighting that quickly flooded social media.
Deen insists chaos was ‘scripted’
In the aftermath, Deen attempted to distance himself from the scale of the violence. In a video message recorded after the night’s events, he claimed the initial flying kick on Robinson had been pre-arranged.
He described the leap from the ring and into the crowd as “staged” and said he had simply followed an agreed plan.
Deen also voiced concern for his own safety after the scenes spiralled out of control and members of his entourage were assaulted. He stressed his affection for the UK and insisted he had not gone rogue.
“I love every English person more than anyone, more than my own people,” he said, addressing Robinson’s supporters. He claimed he had “followed the script that they told me they agreed with” and questioned why he was now being targeted.
“This is what they told me. Tommy’s agreed with it, they’ve agreed with it. I followed it,” he said, adding that if anyone tried to attack him, he was only doing what had been set out for him as part of “the series”.
His closing plea was simple: he wanted tempers to cool and “everyone to calm down”.
The calm will now be for the courts and investigators to decide, as Irish authorities sift through the footage of a night when a choreographed stunt gave way to very real violence.
