Pricey "Beauty versus Boxer" rematch ends in split decision

 Nampetch, who’s credibility hasn’t been exactly strong since she was stripped of her runner-up sash for sharing risque photos online, had dropped hints about a relationship, but then said they were just pals and she worked out at his gym and that was it.

The 10-baht gold necklace he gave her, with a Buddha amulet attached, was “a present for my 22nd birthday”, she insisted. 

The gossip mongers pointed out, though, that it had to cost at least Bt200,000, and then there were rumours of designer bags and even a car as well.

Buakaw’s certainly done well financially as a boxer, and he’s a big star in Japan, but that necklace was a heck of a birthday present for a mere “friend”. 

Buakaw took his time about responding to the hearsay but finally did on Tuesday, not that he had much to add.

“It’s an honour that an ordinary guy like me can be in the news with a beauty queen,” he said, leading with a modesty uppercut. But he only knows Nampetch from the gym and there’s nothing more to it, honest. His brief comment echoed what had already been posted on the gym’s Facebook page – Nampetch’s just one of the customers and Buakaw’s given her some personal training, as he often does with members.

That was enough for most of the crowd of onlookers that had assembled online. People began to disperse, checking their celebrity feeds for any breaking news on the next big star war. It had all come down to a forgettable “he-said-she-said” incident. 

Unfortunately Thai Rath has to be the world’s nosiest newspaper this side of a Murdoch tabloid, and it cornered Nampetch for yet another interview. In this one she referred to Buakaw as “Tua Dam”, which translates as “Darkie”. Not only is it not as politically incorrect as it sounds, it’s actually a rather intimate term of address for a woman to use for a man. She dropped another hint that they are (or at least used to be) close, but she vowed that that’s the last thing she’d ever say about the matter. She intends to forget she ever knew him. 

“Well, are you going you give him back the necklace, then?” Nampetch was asked. “No,” she said firmly. “I still wear it and I feel good about it. But from now on I will erase from my memory that I ever knew Tua Dam.” 

Her mum happened to be by her side and was evidently feeling some mixed emotions of her own. She offered a message to Buakaw: “Man mak Tua Dam,” she said. “What a gentleman you are!”