Ricky Hatton says he'll seek help

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LONDON -- A spokesman for Ricky Hatton says the boxer is "distraught" and will seek help after a newspaper published a video and screen-shot photographs it says show him snorting lines of cocaine.

Publicist Max Clifford says people close to Hatton are hoping the published video and photos "will bring him to his senses."

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Jed Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesFriends say they hope Ricky Hatton, shown in an April photo in Las Vegas, is brought "to his senses" by a published video that shows him snorting cocaine.

The News of the World put a picture on its front page Sunday taken from a video it says shows the former four-time world champion in two weight divisions snorting cocaine at a Manchester hotel two weeks ago.

It came during a night out with Emma Bowe, the 29-year-old Irish national senior women's boxing champion, the British tabloid reported.

The video was published on the newspaper's website.

Clifford says Hatton has been "in a bad place for some time."

"He needs expert advice and help, as anyone in these circumstances does and, from the conversation I had with him yesterday, that will start today," Clifford said Monday, according to talkSPORT radio.

Hatton has not fought since losing to Manny Pacquiao in May last year -- only the second defeat of his career -- but hasn't officially retired.

Bowe said Hatton also drank 11 pints of Guinness along with glasses of vodka, wine and sambuca throughout the night, according to the News of the World.

"I'm only talking about this because Ricky is a danger to himself. If he carries on like this he'll kill himself," Bowe said, according to the newspaper.

"I'm really, really worried for him, especially if he tries to make a comeback in the ring as he's hinted -- he could have a heart attack."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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