BBC: Action over Ricky Hatton cocaine claims 'unlikely'

It is unlikely boxer Ricky Hatton will face any further action after being caught on film snorting white powder, police have said. Police interviewed the former light welterweight world champion several weeks after a video emerged of him allegedly snorting cocaine during a night out with one of his friends. He denied taking the drug claiming he was "too out of it to remember". Prosecutors said police had not referred the case to them. A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) added: "After the police told us that Mr Hatton had denied the accusations we told the police they would need to gather more evidence." Shortly after the accusations were made public, Hatton checked into a rehabilitation clinic suffering from depression. He was questioned by police after leaving the clinic. The investigation is still open, a police spokeswoman said, but there was "little chance" of the matter going any further. The Stockport-born boxer, who was made an MBA in 2007, has not fought since May 2009. Floored three times However, he told the BBC at the beginning of September, before the cocaine allegations, that he "would never say never" to a return to boxing. "Probably not at the minute because you have to have fire in your belly for this game but you can never say never," he said. Hatton beat Tony Pep to win the WBU light-welterweight title in May 2001 and added the IBF crown by memorably stopping champion Kostya Tszyu in 2005. He successfully moved up to welterweight, taking the WBA crown, but was outclassed by Floyd Mayweather in 2007 before being floored three times inside two rounds by Pacquiao.