BALLYMENA-born Olympic boxer Steven Donnelly has claimed he needs "help" after apologising for a racial slur made against fellow Irish boxer Caoimhin Agyarko.
Donnelly, who represented Ireland at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, tweeted abuse to Belfast fighter Agyarko after claiming he would fight the unbeaten middleweight "any day of the week".
Thirty-two year-old Donnelly, who also has a record of nine bouts unbeaten, also referred to an incident in which Agyarko was stabbed in the face during a night out in Belfast in 2017. The attack left the Holy Trinity-trained fighter with injuries that required facial surgery and he said afterwards he was "lucky" the attacker "missed arteries".
Responding to Donnelly's now-deleted posts, Agyarko (24) tweeted that he was "speechless", while fans also spoke out against the Ballymena fighter.
Agyarko later released a statement via social media in which he asked followers "not to be shedding any hate" on Donnelly, who was trained at All Saints Boxing Club in Ballymena, adding: "I hope he gets the help he needs."
Donnelly, whose Twitter account has since been made private, posted: "Listen, no excuse for the nonsense I said. I need proper help and in a bad place for a long time. Sorry."