Split decision in "Beauty and the Boxer" bout

Would-be suitors ought to be careful, though, because there’s a chance she’s committed to Sombat “Buakaw” Banchamek, the muay thai star and double K-1 World Max champion, who’s so famous in Japan he has to wear a disguise to avoid being mobbed by fans, especially young women.
Thai Rath asked Nampetch last week whether the rumour that she and Buakaw were seeing each other. She kept the reply hazy, saying they’d known each other for four years and she took kick-boxing lessons at his Banchamek Gym, sometimes directly from him, though she always pays for the sessions.
Asked whether Buakaw had given her a gold necklace worth millions, Nampetch said she wasn’t “ready” to talk about that, even apologising for feeling uncomfortable about not saying anything. Never mind, said the reporter, but are you Buakaw’s girlfriend or not? “It’s better that Buakaw talk about that himself,” she said. “All I can say for now is that we’ve known each other for a really long time.”
Buakaw’s fans swarmed the Banchamek Gym Facebook page, complaining that Nampetch’s just looking for a ride on famous coattails. They even translated the Thai Rath report into English for the edification of his foreign followers (though Japanese would have been more helpful).
Buakaw’s manager finally stepped forward to insist that, contrary to Nampetch’s tantalising vagueness, the boxer and the beauty are “just friends” as well as occasional teacher/student. And the gossip about gifts of diamonds, gold and luxury handbags, he said, is the product of pungently fertile imaginations.

Let the man sleep!

A month after actor Patchata “Rome” Nampan caused a minor sensation by showing up “high on drugs” for a charity event, he doesn’t seem to have kicked the habit despite the remorse shown.
The drugs in question are apparently only sleeping pills and other medication for an illness stemming from his punishing work schedule. He’s one of the stars of the high-rated TV comedy-drama “Rak Nee Je Jad Hai” and meanwhile enjoys making public appearances, for which he charges a relatively modest fee. That day last month he was under the influence of pills and nodding off all over the place. His manager, Pimpasorn Cheewapaksopon, explained what was happening, but poor Rome took a lot of stick for his “misbehaviour”.
He’s since said, to our relief, that he wasn’t upset about being teased over the incident, rather in fact grateful because it made him more cautious.
But he’s still not well, and he’s still blaming his work. His mum’s evidently quite worried. “When I’m home she follows me around all the time and keeps telling me to get some rest,” he says. “The problem is that I’m very energetic – I’m always playing on the computer and staying up late watching movies.”
He still needs the sleeping pills – just not so many – and all of his family and friends are keeping an eye on him. “They’re always telling me, ‘Don’t ever let anything that embarrassing happen again!’” Or else we’ll keep teasing him.