BOXER SUSPENDED FOR GAY MAG SHOOT

An Olympic Thai boxer has been suspended for three months after he appeared in a photo shoot for a gay magazine.

Worapoj Petchkoom posed for the shoot for the birthday issue of Stage magazine wearing little more than his underwear, but claims that he did not even know that the magazine was a gay title until he was in the middle of the shoot.

“I did not know the magazine would turn out this way… I thought it would be an ordinary fashion shoot. I am straight, with a girlfriend, but the news has upset my family,” the 2004 Olympic silver medal winner said in an interview on the Joh Jai show on the country’s Channel 5.

“Since the magazine appeared, another two gay titles have offered me work, but I turned them down. I meant to show my six pack – not my private parts.”

Now the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand has suspended Petchkoom on the basis that he has brought the sport into disrepute.

According to the association’s rules, he should have asked for permission before taking on modelling work.

It is unclear, however, if this is the Association’s main bone of contention or if it is because he posed in a gay publication.

Petchkoom will miss the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December because of the suspension.