Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton has gone into rehab after battling with severe depression and a drink problem, his spokesman said.
Publicist Max Clifford said Hatton spent several hours speaking to specialists following newspaper claims that the boxer used "industrial quantities" of cocaine on a night out in his home city of Manchester.
Clifford said Hatton's state of mind had been a cause of concern for some time, and that drug use was only the most recent manifestation of a much bigger problem.
"His father has already been talking to the specialists over the last few weeks," Clifford told Press Association Sport.
"He and others have been increasingly concerned about his depression and his drinking.
"He met with the specialist today for four, five, six hours and he was told that his depression is severe depression and that he has a drink problem. The drugs are quite recent and not actually the problem when we're talking about degrees."
