Thai boxer caught with pants down, will miss SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - A Thai boxer who won the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics posed “nearly naked” for a gay magazine in Thailand, and paid dearly for it.

According to a boxingscene.com report filed by Ronnie Nathanielsz, Worapoj Petchkoon, the boxer, posed for the gay magazine STAGE, and easily became the talk of the town.

But officials of the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand or ABAT did not take it sitting down, and decided to impose a three-month suspension on Worapoj, a bantamweight.

The suspension means that Worapoj will not be able to compete in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December where he should be the gold medal favorite.

Worapoj defended his actions by saying he posed in a “sporty” manner but the ABAT president, Gen. Taweep Jantararoj, would hear none of it.

The report said the ABAT chief admitted that the images of Worapoj in the magazine are “not considered obscene, but still they have tarnished the reputation of the national athletes.”