Champion boxer Billy Joe Saunders has claimed a video of him offering £150 of crack to a woman was just “banter gone wrong”.
Footage emerged of Mr Saunders, sat in his £250,000 Rolls Royce, asking whether the woman would perform a sex act on his passenger if she was given drugs.
He also goaded the woman, who said she was 37, into punching a passer-by in the face because of a made-up claim that he was a paedophile. Mr Saunders then drove off.
The incident is believed to have happened Nottinghamshire, but it’s not known when. Nottinghamshire Police said it was investigating the matter, saying it was "sickening".
Mr Saunders tweeted a grovelling apology on Tuesday.
In a chaotically-worded statement, he said: “Apologise to everybody who’s took offence totally in the wrong ‘ can’t do anything But be sorry ‘ banter when wrong ‘ Apologies once again.”
Mr Saunders, 29, is also in hot water with the British Boxing Board of Control, which oversees professional boxing. He has been charged with misconduct.
It said in a statement: “The British Boxing Board of Control are aware of a video featuring WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and have called Mr Saunders to appear before the stewards of the board on a misconduct charge next week.”
Last month, Mr Saunders was involved in a Nando’s brawl in Belfast. He was said to have thrown a chicken at WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, and was chased out of the restaurant by members of Mr Wilder's entourage.
