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Philippines, 02 May 2024 |
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Z GORRES INSPIRES LAW STUDENTS TO LEAD CRUSADE FOR FIGHTERS By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Tue, 16 Feb 2010  Las Vegas, February 14 - Z “The Dream” Gorres who was en route home to the Philippines after courageously fighting back from the brink of death following brain surgery that ended his fine career while on the threshold of a world championship has inspired a group of law students from the University of Las Vegas Nevada – UNLV - to lead the crusade to get a substantial increase in insurance coverage for fighters facing in a similar predicament in the future. The students along with their law professor Robert Correales met with Gorres at the clinic of Dr. Ben Calderon who, together with his staff, numerous Filipino doctors and nurses and newly-discovered friends have shown amazing care and concern for Gorres and his wife Datches who has been by his side all the way. Dr. Calderon is accompanying Gorres on his return journey to Cebu, maybe not with a world title but with another glowing example of the indomitable courage of the Filipino and the remarkable capacity of Filipinos to help their countrymen in their hour of need. In the local Las Vegas community two stalwarts in helping Gorres and pursuing the expanded protection for fighters in a similar situation have been UNLV boxing coach and former US armed forces amateur fighter Frank Slaughter and towering journalist Paul Harasim of the Las Vegas Review Journal who was there with us and ABS-CBN’s indefatigable Las Vegas correspondent Bev Llorente who was commended by Dr. Calderon for helping people be aware of Gorres’ situation. Female law student Jayme Martinez remarked "You see his condition and it gives us even more momentum for our work." Martinez is convinced that fighters deserve to be covered by substantially more insurance than the present $50,000 provided by law so that the state taxpayers won’t be forced to carry the burden of paying the hospital bills for indigent boxers. Gorres who scored an impressive ten round unanimous decision over rugged Colombian Luis Melendez in a Top Rank fight card at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues last November collapsed in his corner after draping the Philippine flag around his shoulder and celebrating the victory which put him in line for an eagerly awaited rematch with WBO bantamweight champion Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel. Gorres was rushed to the University Medical Center where he underwent brain surgery and made what doctors said was a miraculous recovery which they attributed to his being a well-conditioned fighter and a courageous young man. His hospital bills amounted to almosty $600,000 even as he benefited from the therapy and other post-operative procedures rendered free by Dr. Calderon and his staff and the help of members of the Philippine Medical Association headed by Dr. Calderon and the Philippine Nurses Association of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that Martinez is part of a legal team associated with the Boyd Law School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that is helping to prepare legislation that could ensure fighters have catastrophic health insurance when they enter the ring. Martinez, a recent law school graduate who is studying to pass the bar exam, met with Gorres along with law school professor Correales and first year law students Jonathan Winn and Ryan Devine. Harasim said the students wanted to get an idea of whether the fighter believed increasing health insurance for boxers deserves a sense of urgency and it's much needed, Gorres said in a barely audible voice. "We need help." Harasim quoted Gorres as saying he was grateful for the efforts of those striving to help boxers "better peace of mind. I worry about not paying bills; that is not my way. People have been so nice to me." The soft-spoken Dr. Calderon, an obviously caring individual who has treated Gorres and his wife as though they were members of his own family repeated time and again that Gorres was “a very good man." It was UNLV boxing coach Slaughter who pushed the local media to pay attention to Z Gorres’ story and as Professor Correales pointed out it was Slaughter’s idea to associate the law school with new boxing legislation. In another move, Slaughter has teamed up with Dr. Calderon to lend a helping hand to set up the Gorres family in a soap making business in the Philippines with the help of Dr. Calderon’s mother who lives in the Philippines and was also to to fly to Cebu to meet the Gorres husband and wife. Correales and his students, who discussed the situation in the Philippines as far as boxer’s insurance is concerned and the protection given them, if any, by the government, said they were eager to “look at ideas for this from all over the world" even as we all agreed that Las Vegas should take the lead as boxing and mixed martial arts capital of the world. Slaughter suggested that the law students meet with Gorres confident that it would “give them the motivation to get the job done.” Slaughter told Harasim "This is what can happen in the ring. This kind of health insurance reform is long overdue." Martinez said she has long been interested in the welfare of boxers because her husband trains young fighters. She noted that "Their life often is not an easy one. Very few get the money of world champions, and they just struggle to make it. But they want to make it on their own. They don't want to have insurance problems." Top photo: Gorres (back facing camera) listens as UNLV law student Jayme Martinez and UNLV law professor Robert Correales discuss his situation at the clinic of Dr. Ben Calderon in Las Vegas. 
Gorres (L) with Professor Correales and the author at the clinic of Dr. Ben Calderon in Las Vegas. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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