UNDEFEATED world champion boxing hero and Strictly Come Dancing star Joe Calzaghe was on the ropes last night - forced to seek help to deal with his cocaine shame.
Fans of Calzaghe - one of the country's greatest ever fighters - will be shocked by the News of the World's bombshell revelations.
Cornered with a damning dossier of evidence from our detailed investigation, he had to put his hands up - issuing a CONFESSION of coke abuse and an APOLOGY for letting the nation down.
The 37-year-old former BBC Sports Personality of the Year - honoured by the Queen with both an MBE and CBE - said: "I very much regret my occasional use of cocaine in what have sometimes been the long days since my retirement from the ring.
"I am fully aware of the bad example it sets to other people and particularly to youngsters and I apologise to my family, friends and fans."
Drug talk: Grinning Joe talks to us about coke
His admission came after our undercover team posed as would-be sponsors to get close to Calzaghe following a tip-off from a worried friend. In a series of meetings the Welsh ring legend:
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| Drug talk: Grinning Joe talks to us about coke |
ADMITTED he takes cocaine and gave advice on WHERE to buy it.
CLAIMED a relative actually SUPPLIES drugs.
NAMED a well-known soap star pal who he said could get him cocaine.
BAD-MOUTHED fellow boxers including his pal Ricky Hatton.
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| Wild: Partying just last week |
Wild: Partying just last week Our investigation will shatter multi-millionaire Calzaghe's clean- cut image - nurtured on TV's Strictly - and cast a shadow over his astonishing boxing record of 46 wins which resulted in him being honoured TWICE at Buckingham Palace.
We approached Calzaghe - who was last week snapped looking wide-eyed and out of it after a night clubbing - through his dad, boxing trainer Enzo.
His son, who retired undefeated last year after holding super-middleweight and light heavyweight crowns, jumped at the chance to meet us at an apartment in London's Mayfair.
He turned up casually dressed in jeans, jacket and flat cap and immediately began bragging about his amazing record. "Eleven years world champion and undefeated for 17 years, that's quite a long time!" he said.
But the conversation soon turned to drugs.
As he chatted to our reporters Calzaghe's nose was constantly running - one of the comon signs of heavy cocaine use.
When our reporter said he knew about taking cocaine, Calzaghe relaxed and said: "I guessed that, I could tell." As he downed a glass of champagne Calazghe, 38, casually asked: "Have you got any stuff on you now?"
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He added: "I know the score, I done bits and pieces myself. Don't tell my dad for f*** sake! He's no idea.
"Of course, I do a bit, but the thing is most of it is f***ing s*** in Wales. In London it's not too bad."
Keen to get snorting, Calzaghe phoned one of his pals - a well- known soap actor - who he said might be able to pop round with some coke.
But the star, who we are not naming for legal reasons, was busy and couldn't turn up in time.
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When our undercover reporter complained that he had paid £100 there for a gram of the illegal Class A drug, Calzaghe replied: "What? It's £40 normally. It's normally £40. And was it s***? Well you got f***ed off then in Wales!"
When told that the drug was not even pure cocaine, Calzaghe explained: "The thing is now, especially in Britain, there's all s*** going out and you don't know what the f*** it is.
"So they just sell it and they buy it and it's f***ing s***. It's like rubbish."
Then Calzaghe revealed that one of his own relatives back home in Wales also takes cocaine.
"He does a bit now and again," confided Calzaghe. "He always pays like 40, 50 quid."
In fact, at a later meeting in Los Angeles, the boxer went further and said the relative could actually SUPPLY us with the drug. "He's very handy," he said. "He'll sort you out next time you're there."
Back in Mayfair our reporter claimed he often bought drugs in London nightclubs but the quality was poor.
Last victory: Against Roy Jones in '08 Calzaghe, now in full flow, revealed his knowledge of the seedy drug scene, chipping in: "F***ing hell! It's a risk you take isn't it? It's a gamble isn't it? But £100 is a f***ing joke."
He then grabbed a cigarette from our reporter's hand, believing it to be a cannabis joint and said: "Is that a spliff? That's marijuana isn't it? Can I have a f***ing puff?"
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| On Hatton: His punch resistance has gone |
He said: "The main thing is your health. Look at Ricky Hatton for instance. You know he was knocked out really badly the last fight, knocked out two fights ago, and the reality is he's done himself a lot of damage.
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"Regardless of when he fights again, and he says he's going to fight, he's been knocked out by a nobody hasn't he, because his punch resistance has gone as far as I'm concerned." Then the gloves came off as he tore into PRINCE NASEEM HAMED.
"Naseem, he's living in London now," he said.
"Obviously he had that episode didn't he, where he went to prison (sentenced to 15 months after a 90mph car crash).
"He's quite big. He's only like five foot two. He's quite a size now."
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"He's not exceptional," he said. "If he fights against a tall guy he'll be knocked out again. He can't fight a puncher.
"He's been down like six times in his career. It's early times and he's been down six times. In 26 years of boxing I went down four times."
Calzaghe then laid into soccer stars whining that they are paid too much while boxers struggle to make ends meet. He said: "They're just a*ses, overpaid clowns. They're just idiots. They get in a week what I got for a fight, plus sponsorship.
"Some fighters pay 25 per cent to the manager, 10 per cent to the trainer, then you get one or two per cent taken off by the British Boxing Board of Control, and you get the rest minus training expenses - and then you get tax.
"Some fights you're lucky to see a million.
"Some fighters have got a day job. Duke McKenzie, five times world champion and he couldn't give up the day job."
Calzaghe added: "I thought 'quit while I'm ahead' but I've still got it in me - because my last couple of fights were probably my best performances.
"But you weigh things up, listen to your body. I could have carried on but why? Eventually you're going to get beat. To retire undefeated is a rare commodity. Nobody retires. Being undefeated your legacy grows, you have one defeat and you're like everybody else."
Calzaghe has certainly done very well out of his boxing career. Divorced and with two sons aged 15 and 12, he owns homes in Chelsea and Wales, a luxurious villa in Barbados and has invested in property in Yucatan, Mexico.
But it's adding cocaine to his champagne lifestyle that has cost him dear.
Our tip-off came from one of his closest pals, who told us: "Since Joe's given up boxing he's basically become a coke user. A few of us have urged him to stop but he doesn't listen. He started off doing it with some of his friends in Wales but now it's more often.
"After his ring career came to an end he's just gone wild, doing everything he couldn't do while he was in sport. He's gone off the rails, he's dumped his long-term partner, done the dancing show and thinks he has a career in films. But his drug-taking is an open secret among mates and is definitely affecting his judgement."
A fortnight ago Calzaghe headed to Los Angeles for a break with his stunning new girlfriend, Russian dancer Kristina Rihanoff - the professional he was partnered with on last year's Strictly.
Calzaghe publicly ditched long- term girlfriend, model Jo-Emma Larvin, soon after meeting Kristina.
Talking about the show with our man, Calzaghe said with a huge grin: "When they asked me who do you want to do it with, I told them to find me someone single and pretty!
"If I'd paid more attention to dancing than trying to pull her I might have done all right. I was kicked out in week five!"
Calzaghe brought Kristina along to meet our reporters again at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. It was there he promised a relative would supply us cocaine when we got back to Wales. When Calzaghe invited our reporters to visit him again at his dad's gym in a dingy industrial estate in Newbridge he showed off his ring skills, pounding punchbags hanging from the ceiling.
Then Calzaghe got furious as he leafed through a boxing magazine which rated LENNOX LEWIS as Britain's number one all-time great, with himself at number two.
"I should be number one!" he fumed. "Look at his record, 42 won and two lost. That's a disgrace. He's been down twice. I'm the only un- defeated fighter!"
Dad Enzo joined in with his own tirade on Britain's top boxers, starting with Amir Khan.
"I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole," said Enzo. "I don't want him in my stable. I don't think he's a class fighter, he's manufactured."
But yesterday Enzo was having to face the shame and downfall of his own protegé - as son Joe was forced to take the agonising decision to confess he had finally been caught with his guard down.
His full statement to the News of the World said:
"I very much regret my occasional use of cocaine in what have sometimes been the long days since my retirement from the ring.
"I am fully aware of the bad example it sets to other people and particularly to youngsters and I apologise to my family, friends and fans.
"It is not a major problem in my life but it is something which I am actively addressing.
"Many of the other conversations reported to have taken place simply involve men joshing or shooting the breeze over a drink.
"While some statements are either untrue or exaggerations, I am, naturally, sorry for any embarrassment their publication may cause to entirely blameless third parties."
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