Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
You don’t give tickets away.. celebrity or not
Mcguigan defends charging stars
BARRY Mcguigan has defended stars being charged thousands of pounds for tickets to Carl Frampton’s world title fights.
The High Court heard golfer Rory Mcilroy and Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody were among those who paid for seats at bouts in the US.
Mr Mcguigan said: “On big fights like this, you don’t expect to give tickets away whether they are a celebrity or not.”
Details of the high-profile payments emerged on day 11 of his multi-million pound courtroom showdown with Mr Frampton. The North Belfast fighter is suing his ex-manager for alleged withheld earnings.
Mr Frampton has made claims against Cyclone Promotions UK Ltd – of which Mr Mcguigan was a director – over purse fees, broadcasting rights, ticket sales and merchandising.
In a counter lawsuit, the former two-weight world champion is accused of breaching his contact when he split from the firm in 2017.
Both men deny the respective allegations against them.
Under cross-examination , Mr Mcguigan was pressed on tickets sold for the boxer’s two world title bouts against Leo Santa Cruz.
The court heard Mcilroy paid £1,280 into a Cyclone Promotions account for tickets for the first fight in New York in July 2016.
Mr Mcguigan confirmed: “He sat close to me.
“It could be that he bought tickets for his colleagues, he had a couple of people with him , so that could have been for them.
“I would imagine Rory would have got a seat anywhere in the world for free.”
But Gavin Millar, for Mr Frampton put to him: “Nobody discussed with Mr Frampton charging Rory Mcilroy for a ticket, did they?”
Mr Mcguigan insisted, however: “It doesn’t say there that it’s for Rory. He’s
If we gave them all away free it would be a disaster BARRY MCGUIGAN HIGH COURT YESTERDAY
paid f or it, it d o e s n’ t m e a n that it’s necessarily for him, it could be for his colleagues, it could be for his security guard.”
Tickets bought for the rematch with Santa Cruz in Las Vegas in January 2017 also came under scrutiny.
Mr Lightbody paid £2,000, the court heard, while television and radio presenter Colin Murray paid £750.
Mr Miller said: “Again, nobody spoke to Mr Frampton about these people being charged for tickets for his fights, did they?”
Mr Mcguigan told him: “You go along to watch him fight, you expect them to pay for their tickets. That’s the business, it has to work that way otherwise why not let everybody in for free. If we were to give away tickets to everybody the whole show would be a disaster, that’s just the way it works.”
In his case Mr Frampton claims he was promised a 30% share of profits to go into partnership with his ex-manager in anoth er Nor th ern Ireland-based Cyclone Promotions c o m p a n y. B u t M r Mcguigan rejected the allegations, adding: “That’s a joke. That’s just nonsense.
“The amount of money we paid him, how could we possibly have been able to pay him 30%, that’s nonsense, absolutely nonsense.”
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