Celeb boxer’s debt lament, Ball’s mystery enemy, Laem ‘has new mate’

Sia Po avoids punch-up

Kan

Sia Po

The dispute between a celebrity boxer and the ex-wife of rocker Sek Loso looks set to head for court as the boxer admitted he could not pay back debts to her of more than 50 million baht.

Apirak “Sia Po” Chatharnon and Sek’s former wife, Wiphakorn ‘‘Kan’’ Sukpimai, traded barbs in a joint television interview last week in which the pair had to be kept apart by the host and looked close to coming to blows.

Later, Kan posted an image of herself burning the night oil with her lawyer. “We are preparing to fight 20 court cases. It’s tough work, heavy enough for us to have to sit on the floor to figure it all out,” she said.

Asked to describe their relationship, Sia Po earlier told media outlets he and Kan were closer than friends but not lovers, a remark which has annoyed Kan as she believes it dishonours her.

The fall-out comes after Sia Po answered a distress call from her on April 27 only to find 30 Khok Kram police lying in wait for him at her Bangkok home.  Police searched Sia Po and his younger assistant, found his friend was armed, and charged with pair with carrying a weapon in a public place.

Sia Po believes Kan, angry about his unpaid debts to her, lured him to the house on false pretenses. He also alleges she acted in cahoots with Wan Ubumrung, influential son of ex-politician Chalerm, after the pair fell out, again over unpaid gambling debts.

Sia Po, who broadcast his arrest live on social media, said Kan, who lent him more than 50 million baht in a gambling and boxing venture, lured him to her place at 5am claiming she was about to take her own life and was pregnant to him.

However, in their TV interview last week, Kan denied calling police, claiming her family was worried about her and arranged to have the police sit at her house. “I told the police his friend carries a gun. I was afraid he would come around and threaten me,” she said.

She refused to say whether she was pregnant, and when asked to describe the status of their relationship, declared bluntly: “creditor and debtor”.

Days earlier, Sia Po’s mother had offered to transfer a 2.8 million baht plot of family-owned land to Kan in part-payment of her son’s debt, but the pair fell out after Kan insisted Sia Po’s side also pay the land transfer fee. The land transfer did not go ahead.

Since then Sia Po has transferred 100,000 baht to her, but she scoffed at the amount.  “Why don’t you get an honest job,” she said.

Asked why she lent him so much money, Kan said he asked for an initial loan of 2 million baht, but kept coming back for more. She claims the sum reached 60 million baht, including interest.

Sia Po claimed the gambling saga and revelations of soured love between him and Kan had poisoned his reputation to the point where he could no longer find work. “I ran out, so we couldn’t pay the land transfer fee. Anything I make, I give her ... but I sell meatballs for a living, how am I going to pay it back?

“I have just 79 baht in my bank account. I live off my elder brother at the moment, as no one wants to know me in business because of this drama playing out in the media,” he said.

In a rambling interview in which Kan slumped in her seat and at times appeared barely cogent, she denied giving Sia Po the money to gamble. She also accused him of fraud. “At first they give the money back, but once the victim starts to trust them, they change,” she said obliquely.

When Sia Po retorted he had Line messages from Kan to back his assertions about the night of the arrest drama, including her claim that she was pregnant and admission the arrest was a put-up job, she airily dismissed them as “fake chats, which Po fabricated himself”.

Kan also bridled at Sia Po’s claims that she lured him into the police arrest trap at the behest of her friend Wan Ubumrung. She insisted he had nothing to do with it.

Police say they are tracing Sia Po’s money trail, and also want to talk to Kan. The case continues.

Ball forgives assault

Ball

Channel 3 actor Jitrapanu “Ball” Klomkaew says he is prepared to forgive a man who beat him about the head in a city carpark, leaving him with two wounds needing five stitches.

Ball was heading back to his car at the Siam One store on Monday when he was attacked from behind.

The Daily News newspaper said his attacker, later identified as Pawee Sawaengsat, 30, wrapped his belt around his hand and struck Ball with it.

He did not show his face to Ball, and the actor says he could not make out what he said. His attacker fled without leaving any evidence.

At first Ball was none the wiser as to who attacked him, telling Pathumwan police, where he laid a complaint, that he has no enemies and didn’t know why he was singled out. “It’s unlikely to involve women, as these days I keep my head down and concentrate on work,” he said.

Ball sustained injuries to the back of his head and his hand. The actor said he called his manager after the attack, and went to hospital to get his wounds treated.

A day after the initial publicity, Mr Pawee came forward to admit attacking Ball, whom he said he ran into in the carpark and recognised. While details of their dispute were not released, reporters said Mr Thawee knew Ball as a third hand who helped break up a relationship he was in previously. 

Mr Thawee said he had since married someone else but the incident with Ball still hurt and he wanted vengeance.

Ball, who maintains he does not know Mr Thawee, even though his attacker knows him, met the young man at the station on Tuesday for three hours of talks. The two emerged to shake hands, attributing the incident to a “misunderstanding”.  Police have charged Mr Thawee initially with assault causing injury though the charge can be dropped depending on the outcome of talks.

Netizens dig up dirt

Laem and Kay

The ex-girlfriend of world boxing champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Laem, insists they parted happily, despite internet buzz which claims they fell out over fidelity issues and financial disputes.

Patchareewan “Kay” Kanha, 30, said she and Laem tidied up their affairs two weeks ago and now talked to each other like brother and sister. She was responding to her dramatic announcement on Facebook on Thursday that the pair had ended their 14-year relationship.

Kay said she doesn’t know why some netizens are now digging up stories from the past to suggest the two families fell out or that she and Laem, the super flyweight title holder, were now at odds. The news has left his fans in shock, as the pair were pictured trying out wedding outfits early this month.

While Laem has said nothing about the split-up, and is still working out at his boxing camp as usual, netizens digging into Kay’s past claim she was seeing other men on the side, and Laem grew sick of it.

The Manager/ASTV newspaper, which travelled to Sri Sa Ket province to talk to the boxer’s mother, Noorat Wangake, said he had also grown tired of her demands that her name be added to his savings account, and for joint ownership of his Toyota Highlander car.

Mrs Noorat said her son refused, as he felt he had given Kay enough already. He had given her 150,000 baht to buy four cows to raise at her parents’ place; another 1.2 million baht to buy 8 rai of farming land in Rasisalai district;  and bought her a 3 million baht condo in Thon Buri.

However, she said says she loves Kay like a daughter and hopes the pair can end their relationship on amicable terms.

According to the internet buzz, Kay claims Laem himself had been seeing someone else, though Mrs Noorat said her son denies it. Kay, she said, claimed a set of spare alloy wheels went missing from Laem’s car, and that he sold them to pay for the upkeep of his “new woman”.

Kay admitted both she and Laem were seeing new people, but denies either was unfaithful.

The relationship started having problems at the start of the year. She wished him well and urged his fans to offer their support.