New BBC Three documentary ‘Stable’ goes inside elite boxing gym

All four episodes of STABLE: The Boxing Game will be streamed on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Saturday 30 March 2024, and broadcast as double bills on BBC One after Match of the Day on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 March 2024.

The list of fighters Shane McGuigan has trained reads like a who’s who of recent British boxing greats.

The son of boxing Hall of Famer, Barry McGuigan, the 36-year-old has mentored a string of world champions – including David Haye, Carl Frampton, George Groves, Chantelle Cameron, Lawrence Okolie, Josh Taylor and Chris Billam-Smith.

In a new four-part BBC Three documentary, cameras are allowed special access into the McGuigan gym.

We meet some of the more decorated fighters in the stable – Okolie, Daniel Dubois and Billam-Smith – as well as rising stars such as Adam Azim, Caroline Dubois and Ellie Scotney.

The series also offers an interesting insight into the politics of boxing, as Barry and Shane McGuiguan reflect on a bitter split with former fighter Frampton.

Here are a few takeaways from the series.

Billam-Smith had ‘chip on shoulder’ over Okolie rivalry

How does it feel when two fighters you’ve trained for years face off against one another for a world title? In a word, “awkward”.

That’s how McGuigan describes Billam-Smith’s showdown against former stable-mate and WBO champion Okolie last May.

During the build-up, Okolie described his opponent at times as a “friend,” and at others, a former “colleague.”

They had both been under McGuigan’s tutelage since 2019. During that time, Billam-Smith had to get used to playing second fiddle. It was Okolie who got picked for the 2016 Olympics and he was the one headlining cards whilst both fighters were signed to Matchroom.

Billam-Smith, 33, said he had “a chip” on his shoulder for years and reveals that it was “hard to take” when then-British and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion Okolie joined the gym in 2019.

“It doesn’t mean I didn’t like Lawrence or disrespected him at all,” Billam-Smith stressed to BBC Sport.

Either way, when Okolie, 31, split with the McGuigans in 2022, it was an opportunity for Billam-Smith to challenge for his belt.

And it was the underdog, Billam-Smith, who stunned his former stable-mate in in front of 15,000 fans at Bournemouth’s Vitality stadium.

Billam-Smith said Okolie texted to congratulate him the day after the fight.

McGuigan lost ‘best mate’ in Frampton

Okolie’s split is presented in Stable as a mutual one – notwithstanding the fact that McGuigan says he “always expected” the former world champion to use the opportunity to “elevate himself”.

However, not everyone has enjoyed such an amicable split from the McGuigans. In 2017, former two-weight world champion Frampton sued former manager Barry for loss of earnings after leaving the gym and McGuigans’ Cyclone Promotions.

McGuigan lodged a counter-suit for breach of contract. Both parties denied the respective allegations against them and the case was settled out of court.

McGuigan, who helped Frampton win world…