Iceman
12-09-2010, 12:16 AM
BOXING legend Ricky Hatton is caught on camera snorting cocaine in a shocking 10-hour drink and drugs binge.
A friend who witnessed the former world champ take SEVEN lines of coke in a Manchester hotel said: "If he carries on he'll kill himself. I'm really, really worried for him."
These are the pictures that will rock the world of boxing - bloated former world champion Hatton snorting line after line of cocaine.
First the sporting legend casually takes out a wrap of the drug he has hidden in his SHOE.
Then he pours the white powder on to a table top before cutting it into three massive lines with a credit card. Finally he expertly hoovers them up his nose through a rolled up £20 note.
The shameful images of 31-year-old national hero Ricky, nicknamed The Hitman for his ring victories, were captured at a Manchester hotel two weeks ago.
And this was one bout in which the two-times world welterweight supremo got really hammered - knocked out by a marathon 10-hour bender including SEVEN lines of coke in THREE separate drug sessions, 11 pints of Guinness, four vodkas, two glasses of wine and several Sambucas.
His fall from grace - just months after hanging up his gloves - will stun millions of fans around the world, the many charities who rely on him, his loyal fiancée Jennifer Dooley and his nine-year-old son.
Our sensational revelations follow concerns voiced to the News of the World by well-placed sources that Ricky - who earned an estimated £50 million and a coveted MBE during his glittering career - has been acting erratically in recent months.
One told us: "Hatton has been partying hard and is an accident waiting to happen. For a professional sportsman it's totally unbelievable what he's doing to his body. He needs help and quickly."
Today Ricky faces his biggest fight yet - to get his life back on track.
Fellow fighter Emma Bowe is the close pal who witnessed Hatton devouring cocaine in her hotel bathroom and bedroom. And last night she told us: "I'm only talking about this because Ricky is a danger to himself. If he carries on like this he'll kill himself.
"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."
Emma, 29 - the current Irish national senior women's boxing champ - told us how she flew from Dublin into Manchester to attend a cage fighting event with Hatton.
But the ring star's drink and drug binge was already underway by 5.20pm when he turned up at Emma's hotel, just a 10-minute cab ride from the home he shares with Jennifer.
Wearing a black Ben Sherman shirt and casual trousers, he made his way to his pal's room. She said: "The event at Altrincham Leisure Centre began at 7pm but Ricky had said he wanted to meet me at five. When he arrived in my room he told me he'd had two pints of Guinness in his local. As I was ready we went downstairs for drinks in the bar.
"There was a wedding function taking place and everyone descended on Ricky, plaguing him for photographs and autographs. After another two pints of Guinness we left for the fight and we got the same reception there.
"Security men ushered us to a ringside seat and the event was being televised by Sky. But Ricky seemed agitated and kept saying, 'Stay with me! Don't leave my side!'
Ricky Hatton snorts the drug through a rolled-up banknote
"I noticed he kept disappearing to the toilets - at least four times in two hours - and I now suspect he was taking coke because when he came back he was very alert and perky."
After the event Hatton downed a few more pints at the bar then left with Emma at 11.30pm, heading by cab for local nightclub Suburbia.
But on the way Hatton had other things on his mind - an urgent return to Emma's hotel room and at 12.21am it was time for COKE SESSION No 1.
She said: "Ricky told me he had something to do in the bathroom. That's when he went inside and snorted a line of cocaine off the toilet lid. I'd never seen him do that before, but it didn't surprise me because I'd met him nearly a year ago in Dublin and saw him accidentally produce a cocaine wrap when he was fiddling about trying to find his hotel key. My suspicions were confirmed.
"Anyway he left the bathroom door wide open and I saw everything while I was touching up my make-up. He used the hard end of a Clinique tube to cut the powder.
"I was dumbstruck and felt bitterly disappointed. Ricky was my hero and to see him abusing drugs was such a letdown. He was a real role model, I didn't expect that of him."
The pair then went to the club in Hale where Emma said Hatton's behaviour became increasingly erratic. The fight star sank pint after pint before moving on to vodkas and white wine, ending with a few Sambucas.
"At that point Ricky and I were getting along really well," said Emma. "But when I started talking to some of the cagefighters who came along too, he turned funny.
"He kept asking people where I was and told them he was going back to the hotel. I jumped into the next taxi and found him standing on the steps of my hotel. I told him I'd just got caught up in conversation with the fighters and their wives and he seemed OK about it. But it told me how paranoid he has become."
Back in the safety of Emma's room Hatton settled himself down for COKE SESSION No 2. "This time it was in the bedroom," said Emma. "He laid out three huge lines, really industrial quantities. I watched him all the time. He went to the dressing table and cut them up with a credit card, really fat lines of coke.
"Then he rolled up a £20 note, put it to his nose and snorted up three lines of cocaine, one after the other. I was really taken aback. He told me it only stayed in the system for three days."
The shameful moment was captured on video camera, with Hatton's watch showing the time as 2.45am.
The video evidence reveals how he returned to the dressing table at 3.40am, cut up another three lines of the powder and again used a banknote to noisily snort it up his right nostril. But after sucking up two lines the fighter turned southpaw - and switched to his left nostril for the third. Emma said he then drifted off into a drug and booze fuelled sleep at about 6am, waking around 8.30am when he was called on his mobile by fiancée Jennifer.
But instead of picking up, Emma said Hatton told her: "Just leave it!"
The ex-champ has not fought since being knocked out in two rounds by Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in May 2009. But Emma's testimony and our video footage will shock the sport's authorities, who renewed Hatton's boxing licence in July, sparking speculation he might make a comeback.
A potential superfight against Amir Khan, the WBA light-welterweight champion was thought to be on the cards. But now Hatton is looking at big trouble. The maximum sentence for possession of a Class A drug like cocaine is seven years in prison and an unlimited fine.
And boxers caught taking drugs, or convicted of drug offences, are in breach of the British Boxing Board of Control's regulation 25. They face being suspended, fined and having their licence withdrawn.
Ironically photos of Hatton have been emblazoned on taxis all over Manchester promoting the Crimestoppers campaign, urging the public to shop lawbreakers.
Last night whistleblower Emma insisted: "I'm doing this for Ricky's own good. I hope he gets help and advice before cocaine destroys him."
Source: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/963857/Ricky-Hatton-drugs-shame.html
A friend who witnessed the former world champ take SEVEN lines of coke in a Manchester hotel said: "If he carries on he'll kill himself. I'm really, really worried for him."
These are the pictures that will rock the world of boxing - bloated former world champion Hatton snorting line after line of cocaine.
First the sporting legend casually takes out a wrap of the drug he has hidden in his SHOE.
Then he pours the white powder on to a table top before cutting it into three massive lines with a credit card. Finally he expertly hoovers them up his nose through a rolled up £20 note.
The shameful images of 31-year-old national hero Ricky, nicknamed The Hitman for his ring victories, were captured at a Manchester hotel two weeks ago.
And this was one bout in which the two-times world welterweight supremo got really hammered - knocked out by a marathon 10-hour bender including SEVEN lines of coke in THREE separate drug sessions, 11 pints of Guinness, four vodkas, two glasses of wine and several Sambucas.
His fall from grace - just months after hanging up his gloves - will stun millions of fans around the world, the many charities who rely on him, his loyal fiancée Jennifer Dooley and his nine-year-old son.
Our sensational revelations follow concerns voiced to the News of the World by well-placed sources that Ricky - who earned an estimated £50 million and a coveted MBE during his glittering career - has been acting erratically in recent months.
One told us: "Hatton has been partying hard and is an accident waiting to happen. For a professional sportsman it's totally unbelievable what he's doing to his body. He needs help and quickly."
Today Ricky faces his biggest fight yet - to get his life back on track.
Fellow fighter Emma Bowe is the close pal who witnessed Hatton devouring cocaine in her hotel bathroom and bedroom. And last night she told us: "I'm only talking about this because Ricky is a danger to himself. If he carries on like this he'll kill himself.
"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."
Emma, 29 - the current Irish national senior women's boxing champ - told us how she flew from Dublin into Manchester to attend a cage fighting event with Hatton.
But the ring star's drink and drug binge was already underway by 5.20pm when he turned up at Emma's hotel, just a 10-minute cab ride from the home he shares with Jennifer.
Wearing a black Ben Sherman shirt and casual trousers, he made his way to his pal's room. She said: "The event at Altrincham Leisure Centre began at 7pm but Ricky had said he wanted to meet me at five. When he arrived in my room he told me he'd had two pints of Guinness in his local. As I was ready we went downstairs for drinks in the bar.
"There was a wedding function taking place and everyone descended on Ricky, plaguing him for photographs and autographs. After another two pints of Guinness we left for the fight and we got the same reception there.
"Security men ushered us to a ringside seat and the event was being televised by Sky. But Ricky seemed agitated and kept saying, 'Stay with me! Don't leave my side!'
Ricky Hatton snorts the drug through a rolled-up banknote
"I noticed he kept disappearing to the toilets - at least four times in two hours - and I now suspect he was taking coke because when he came back he was very alert and perky."
After the event Hatton downed a few more pints at the bar then left with Emma at 11.30pm, heading by cab for local nightclub Suburbia.
But on the way Hatton had other things on his mind - an urgent return to Emma's hotel room and at 12.21am it was time for COKE SESSION No 1.
She said: "Ricky told me he had something to do in the bathroom. That's when he went inside and snorted a line of cocaine off the toilet lid. I'd never seen him do that before, but it didn't surprise me because I'd met him nearly a year ago in Dublin and saw him accidentally produce a cocaine wrap when he was fiddling about trying to find his hotel key. My suspicions were confirmed.
"Anyway he left the bathroom door wide open and I saw everything while I was touching up my make-up. He used the hard end of a Clinique tube to cut the powder.
"I was dumbstruck and felt bitterly disappointed. Ricky was my hero and to see him abusing drugs was such a letdown. He was a real role model, I didn't expect that of him."
The pair then went to the club in Hale where Emma said Hatton's behaviour became increasingly erratic. The fight star sank pint after pint before moving on to vodkas and white wine, ending with a few Sambucas.
"At that point Ricky and I were getting along really well," said Emma. "But when I started talking to some of the cagefighters who came along too, he turned funny.
"He kept asking people where I was and told them he was going back to the hotel. I jumped into the next taxi and found him standing on the steps of my hotel. I told him I'd just got caught up in conversation with the fighters and their wives and he seemed OK about it. But it told me how paranoid he has become."
Back in the safety of Emma's room Hatton settled himself down for COKE SESSION No 2. "This time it was in the bedroom," said Emma. "He laid out three huge lines, really industrial quantities. I watched him all the time. He went to the dressing table and cut them up with a credit card, really fat lines of coke.
"Then he rolled up a £20 note, put it to his nose and snorted up three lines of cocaine, one after the other. I was really taken aback. He told me it only stayed in the system for three days."
The shameful moment was captured on video camera, with Hatton's watch showing the time as 2.45am.
The video evidence reveals how he returned to the dressing table at 3.40am, cut up another three lines of the powder and again used a banknote to noisily snort it up his right nostril. But after sucking up two lines the fighter turned southpaw - and switched to his left nostril for the third. Emma said he then drifted off into a drug and booze fuelled sleep at about 6am, waking around 8.30am when he was called on his mobile by fiancée Jennifer.
But instead of picking up, Emma said Hatton told her: "Just leave it!"
The ex-champ has not fought since being knocked out in two rounds by Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in May 2009. But Emma's testimony and our video footage will shock the sport's authorities, who renewed Hatton's boxing licence in July, sparking speculation he might make a comeback.
A potential superfight against Amir Khan, the WBA light-welterweight champion was thought to be on the cards. But now Hatton is looking at big trouble. The maximum sentence for possession of a Class A drug like cocaine is seven years in prison and an unlimited fine.
And boxers caught taking drugs, or convicted of drug offences, are in breach of the British Boxing Board of Control's regulation 25. They face being suspended, fined and having their licence withdrawn.
Ironically photos of Hatton have been emblazoned on taxis all over Manchester promoting the Crimestoppers campaign, urging the public to shop lawbreakers.
Last night whistleblower Emma insisted: "I'm doing this for Ricky's own good. I hope he gets help and advice before cocaine destroys him."
Source: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/963857/Ricky-Hatton-drugs-shame.html