By Ronnie Nathanielsz
One of Thailand’s finest pro boxers and former WBC champion Sirimongkol Singwancha(63-2, 37 KO's) has been arrested for drug dealing in the Thai city of Pattaya.
The Thai Rath newspaper reported that Sirimongkol’s career is likely to come to an abrupt end.
It said a team of Chonburi province anti-drug police arrested Sirimongkol, whose real name is O Eiamtuam, at 8.00 p.m. on August 29 as the boxer was driving a car, reportedly to deliver illegal drugs to a buyer. About 28.4 grams of the drug, known as “ice” in Thailand, was also found with him.
The Thai Rath report said Sirimongkol confessed that he was hired by a man known as “Lek” to deliver the drugs to a buyer for 10,000 Baht. He said he had been using and dealing drugs since he lost his world title in 2002, as he could not earn enough from boxing.
The 32-year-old Prathum Thani resident said his boxing career, including a K-1 match scheduled in the next week in Mexico, would likely come to an end. He said he wanted to apologize to all of his fans.
Sirimongkol was son to the owner of Singmanasak gym. He has held several titles, including the super flyweight and bantamweight of World Boxing Union (WBU), the prestigious WBC bantamweight and super featherweight titles, and the PABA super lightweight title.
