Frampton wins costs in latest courtroom bout

A High Court judge has already decided the former world champion’s actions over allegedly withheld earnings should take place in Belfast rather than London.

Based on that outcome Mr Justice Horner held on Friday that Mr Frampton is entitled to the majority of his costs in determining the preliminary jurisdictional issue.

No reimbursement will be made, however, until the main trial is dealt with.

The Belfast boxer is suing Barry McGuigan, his wife Sandra McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions (UK) Ltd, claiming a failure to pay purse money from his bouts.

Mr Frampton’s solicitor, John Finucane, welcomed the verdict reached on the initial legal bill for getting the case heard in Belfast.

He said: “The financial burden of the McGuigans failed attempt to dispute the High Court’s jurisdiction should not fall on my client... It is also right that the McGuigans have been left to bare the entirety of their own costs to date.”

The Tigers Bay-born fighter’s two writs form the basis of his counter-claim to separate proceedings brought against him by the McGuigan family-run Cyclone Promotions at the High Court in London.

Nicknamed ‘The Jackal’, the 31-year-old former two-weight world champion split with Cyclone last year, and is facing an action for alleged breach of contract.

Mr Frampton is counter-suing on a number of grounds, including an alleged appropriation of fight earnings and a breach of the terms of an International Promotional Agreement (IPA). Lawyers for the McGuigans insisted all of the allegations are categorically denied.