Former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan has quickly become a fan favourite since entering the I’m a Celebrity Jungle.
The 63-year-old Irishman entered the Australian jungle alongside some big names in the media-celebrity realm including social media star GK Barry and McFly’s Danny Jones but it is McGuigan who has quickly charmed his contestants and the viewers at home.
McGuigan’s no nonsense attitude and willingness to discuss hard-hitting conversations has been applauded by viewers watching on and he could be set to spill more about his personal life including his bitter feud with former protegee Carl Frampton. Here is everything we know about their infamous falling out.
After McGuigan decided to hang up his gloves, the Hall of Famer decided to start up his own promotion company, Cyclone Promotions and one of the key faces in his stables was Northern Irishman Carl Frampton.
Frampton became part of McGuigan’s stables in 2009 and the duo enjoyed major success together, with Frampton securing world titles in both the super-bantamweight and featherweight divisions, however things soon turned sour between the pair.
After eight years together, the once untouchable relationship between the two took an ugly turn when Frampton’s fight with Andres Gutierrez was called off.
Carl Frampton claimed Barry McGuigan once saw him as a fourth son
The pair’s father-son like relationship soon turned sour after Frampton walked out of McGuigan’s promotion company
Reeling from the cancelation, Frampton quit McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions, jumping ship to MTK Global Promotions which was run by controversial Irish gangster Daniel Kinahan.
Frampton’s decision to leave McGuigan produced a ripple effect, with many of his boxers deciding to follow suit, ‘effectively destroying the business’.
The drama between the pair didn’t end there however as in 2020, their bitter fallout entered the courtroom when Frampton decided to sue Cyclone Promotions for £6m.
Frampton claimed that Cyclone Promotions withheld earnings up to £6m for fights in Northern Ireland, England and the United States, whilst also claiming McGuigan used some of his own earnings for personal expenses, including holidays.
Speaking about the case, Frampton said: ‘It just seemed at times they were enjoying life on my purse.
‘The biggest one was in 2016 after a fight. My family and I had a bit of a holiday, and the McGuigans did too.
‘The expenses were coming out of the purse after the fight was over.
‘I literally paid for a lot of what went on in their holiday.
The 37-year-old ended up suing McGuigan for allegedly withholding earnings from fights
Speaking about the breakdown of their relationship, Frampton admitted it was hard as McGuigan once saw him as a fourth son and he once saw McGuigan as his hero.
‘It was hard when it broke down, to be honest, but I mean, it was probably a long time coming.
‘I was hoping that the things that people were saying about Barry were all wrong. He was a hero of mine growing up.
‘I wanted this to get fixed. A court process was the last thing I wanted, but there was no other option.’
McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions then countersued Frampton, claiming the now 37-year-old was in breach of his contract when he walked out on the promotion company all those years back.
Both parties denied any wrongdoing, leading to a £6m legal cased which was eventually settle in an out-of-court confidential agreement in November 2020.
Frampton secured world titles in both the super-bantamweight and featherweight divisions under McGuigan’s promotion
The 37-year-old was trained by Barry’s son Shane McGuigan when he was with Cyclone Promotions
Speaking about the court case and the undoing of his relationship with Frampton, McGuigan said: ‘Just a disappointment. Pretty deep disappointment. I took him into my home, made him part of my family.
‘I didn’t take a penny off him for over two years [until] he won the Commonwealth title.
‘Very disappointing that he went off to join Daniel Kinahan. That’s it.
‘He [Frampton] can say what he wants but he knows he could not have achieved anything without me or my family and the work that we put into him.
‘I don’t want to get into a slagging match with him. I’m past all that nonsense.
‘Shane will end up in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, just like me. It sounds very bumptious but I’m not in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for no reason.
‘I was really good at what I did. We are very good people. We’re very decent people.’
McGuigan has denied Frampton’s claims, saying ‘I didn’t take a penny off him for over two years [until] he won the Commonwealth title’
The public digs and spats towards one another didn’t end there.
When Frampton retired from boxing in 2021, he took further aim at McGuigan stating that his relationship with the Hall of Famer is ‘dead’ and the latter years of their liaison ‘tarred everything that’s gone on’.
The 37-year-old opened up further on his relationship with his former ‘hero’ and how it went so sour so quickly in his 2023 autobiography ‘Carl Frampton: My Autobiography’.
In the book Frampton revealed: ‘It was bliss at the start and there was genuine love and friendship. Barry went as far as calling me the fourth son at times. He was a man that I looked up to so much.
‘I understand that Barry is a hero to many people. He was a hero to me.
‘But if you read this book, and still think he is a hero, you need to give your head a wobble.
‘It was pretty sour in the end. It was a shame but this is what happens in boxing.
‘I think the relationship’s dead, it will always be dead.
‘But for a while, I had a lot of bitterness about them and thought about them a lot and I had a lot of anger, but I don’t have that anymore. I kind of pity them now.
‘I’ve calmed down and have more important things to worry about now.
‘Obviously I can’t say a lot, but I can say I’m extremely happy with the settlement.’
The pair almost faces an awkward reunion as Frampton was identified as a potential replacement for Tommy Fury in this year’s I’m a Celebrity
Despite the bitter feud, the duo could have been set to spend three weeks in the Australian jungle together after Frampton was identified as a possible replacement for Tommy Fury who pulled out of the show.
Speaking about their potential reunion, the Northern Irishman said: ‘I swear to God I was nearly in it.
‘When Tommy Fury pulled out there was me and two others and the fella from McFly got it instead of me.
‘So obviously I think there must have been a debate that would have put me and McGuigan in at the same time.
‘By the way I would have loved to have been in with him, I would have absolutely loved it, but it wasn’t to be.’
