Billionaire casino owner James Packer has revealed that he regrets his now legendary fisticuffs with Nine Boss David Gyngell.
The two mates were caught blueing outside Packer’s Bondi pad in May last year.
Yesterday, Packer spoke to the media about the incident for the first time.
“I should have never punched Gyngell outside my house. I’ve made a bunch of mistakes, but in a business sense, I’ve had a go more than anyone else I’ve known,” he said.
Watching two overweight middle-aged men in tracksuit pants punch the beejeemers out of each other caught the attention of the nation, if not the world. Thankfully it was all caught on camera by nearby paparazzi. The images were allegedly bought by News Corp for $500,000 and splashed across its respective tabloids and broadsheets the following day.
Some sneaks in media claimed News’ hefty sum and blanket coverage was the work of Lachlan Murdoch who delighted in outing his media rivals.
Speaking of the incident – rumoured to have escalated after Packer saw a Channel Nine news van nearby – James said that he shouldn’t have hit Gyngell before stressing that the Nine boss shouldn’t have been loitering outside his luxury apartment in ill-fitting trackie daks and T-shirt.
Despite Packer’s regrets of punching the best man at his wedding and reports the two had come to blows previously, it was, in fact, Packer left with the black eye the next morning. While most astute judges awarded the fight to Gyngell.
Putting on a brave face the following day, Gyngell fronted Packer’s pad and told waiting media of his remorse.
In late 2014, Gyngell admitted the incident was his fault.
“He didn’t come to my place to punch me, I went to his place to punch him,” Gyngell told Sydney’s 2GB.”I put him in more of a precarious position, which I shouldn’t have done, being the person he is and the responsibilities and governance issues he has; I was peeved at myself for doing that.”
