Millionaire businessman and boxing promoter Mr Barney Eastwood was awarded £145,000 yesterday in settlement of a libel action over a book written by the English promoter Mr Mickey Duff.
The book's publishers HarperCollins Ltd agreed to pay the damages in an out-of-court settlement.
The book, Twenty & Out, has now been withdrawn from sale.
In the High Court in Belfast Mr Eastwood's lawyer, Mr Ben Stephens QC, said a term of the settlement was an apology to be read in court.
Mr Gerald Simpson QC, for HarperCollins, said a number of statements in the book suggested that Mr Eastwood was compelled to pay Mr Duff over £100,000 to honour his legal obligations.
"The defendant unreservedly accepts that all such allegations were an unjustified attack on Mr Eastwood's exemplary personal and business integrity and were totally without foundation," said Mr Simpson.
He added that HarperCollins wished to apologise to Mr Eastwood.
"The defendant has also agreed to pay substantial damages to Mr Eastwood, including his legal costs," said Mr Simpson.
Specialist libel lawyer Mr Paul Tweed said afterwards: "Although it was regrettable that Mr Eastwood was left with no alternative but to issue legal proceedings to vindicate his reputation, he is nonetheless now fully satisfied with the comprehensive and unequivocal retraction and apology, the book having already been withdrawn from sale by the publishers.
"However, as one of Ireland's leading businessmen, he obviously would have preferred that these totally false and vindictive assertions had not been published in the first place.
"It is not so much this apology and six-figure settlement sum [that was sought], but rather [the preservation of] Mr Eastwood's [reputation as an] extremely successful boxing manager and promoter."