Boxing: Former world champion Ricky Hatton has apologised to his fans following his descent into drink and drugs.
The 31-year-old officially confirmed his retirement after he was secretly filmed apparently snorting cocaine - with police to investigate the allegations.
And although Hatton, who has now checked into rehab, has admitted to "dabbling in silly things", he has insisted he never took drugs during his boxing career.
He told ITV's Daybreak: "I've upset my fans, my family, everybody that has been with me from day one. Sorry is not a big enough word for what I want to say to them."
Asked if he used the class A drug while boxing, he added: "No. Never, never."
Hatton last fought in May 2009 when he lost in two rounds against Manny Pacquiao - and it is while dealing with the humiliation of sporting lows, coupled with personal problems, that things got on top of him.
"I was suffering really, really badly so even though I always used to have a drink, I started drinking a little bit more, and along with the depression I think my personal life hasn't been great," said Hatton.
"My relationship with my parents hasn't been the best and along with struggling and coping with retirement, things got on top of me and slowly just went from bad to worse and it ended up resulting in dabbling in other silly things.''