04.01.04 – From WBC President Jose Sulaiman: Dr. Paul Wallace, the Chairman of the WBC Medical Advisory Board, has offered to go to Phuket, Thailand, and assist in the medical efforts there with no compensation. His travel arrangements and accommodations will be coordinated by myself at the WBC, and Pol. Gen. Kovid Bhaktibhumi of Thailand, who is a WBC Vice President, as well as President of our affiliated continental federation, the Asian Boxing Council..
“We at the WBC are deeply touched and very grateful to Dr. Wallace for his compassion and exemplary humanitarian actions. All of us who attended the 42nd annual WBC convention in Phuket last October have a deep sadness in our hearts for all of the people there who were always smiling, so hospitable, so nice.
“The WBC’s backbone is its care, its concern, and its devotion for having boxing participate in helping those in need, not just sanctioning title bouts. That’s been the zeal of the WBC for 42 long years.”
In a telephone interview today, Dr. Wallace said, “The WBC has a longstanding legacy in terms of extending help to people and countries in need. As the medical director, and with such an enormous medical need, I should go. I think that we have a moral responsibility and obligation to help those in need.
“I’ll probably be going sometime in the next week. There’s a lot of logistics that still need to be worked out. I’m not going over there to lead anything, I’m going there to be of assistance. I want to be useful and helpful when I’m there. I’m familiar with infectious disease from my U.S. military experience, and my past experience in emergency and disaster relief can be of help. I spent some time in Thailand, obviously through the WBC, but prior to that I had worked on malaria vaccine research in Kenya, Thailand, Korea, Panama.
“I actually was out of the country when this tragedy occurred, and I immediately sent an email to Jose, but the holidays pretty much got in the way. I called him again on the first, and he felt that the appropriate thing to do was contact the Thai government. They welcomed and appreciated the idea. So now, the logistics of when to go, and where do we go, have to be figured out.
“Once again, I’d just like to emphasize the fact that humanitarian causes are certainly the history of the WBC. I would love to be able to get the medical directors, or some representatives from all of our countries there to have a delegation of doctors who can volunteer their time. And that’s what I hope to do. I’m going to ask Jose to put out the letters for folks to call me. It takes a lot of coordination, but once we put it together, I’ll be ready to leave on 24-hour notice.”
Dr. Wallace, of Los Angeles, California, is also the Co-Chairman of the Association of Boxing Commissions Medical Advisory Board, and the Chairman of the California boxing commission’s Medical Advisory Board.
The WBC sends its most sincere condolences to promoter Art Pelullo of Philadelphia and referee Toby Gibson of Las Vegas for their recent losses. Mr. Pelullo’s father and Mr. Gibson’s mother recently passed away
Upcoming World Championship Fights:
January 29 – Atlantic City, New Jersey – Super Lightweight World Championship
Champion Arturo Gatti (38-6, 29 KOs, Jersey City, New Jersey) vs
James Leija (WBC No. 3, 47-6-2, 19 KOs, San Antonio, Texas)
January 29 – Osaka, Japan – Flyweight World Championship
Champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (54-2, 28 KOs, Nakhon Ratchaseema, Thailand) vs
Noriyuki Komatsu (WBC No. 10, 19-1-5, 8 KOs, Osaka, Japan)
January 30 – Seoul Korea – Featherweight World Championship
Champion Injin Chi (29-2-1, 18 KOs, Seoul, Korea) vs
Tommy Browne (WBC No. 20, 17-2-1, 7 KOs, New South Wales, Australia)
February 5 – St. Louis, Missouri – Welterweight World Championship
Champion Cory Spinks (34-2, 11 KOs, St. Louis, Missouri) vs
Zab Judah (WBC No. 11, 32-2, 23 KOs, Brooklyn, New York)
World Championship Results:
January 3 – Tokyo, Japan – Super Flyweight World Championship
Champion Katsushige Kawashima (28-3, 18 KOs, Yokohama, Japan) W12 Jose Navarro (WBC No. 1, 21-1, 9 KOs, Los Angeles, California)
Kawashima made his second successful title defense with an extremely close split decision win against the mandatory challenger. According to ringside reports, Navarro, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team and a lefthander, started fast and boxed very effectively. He cut Kawashima over the right eye in the second round, and Kawashima was cut over the right eye by a clash of heads in the fifth. But Kawashima pressed forward, landed the harder punches, and rallied in the late rounds. The judges scored 115-114, 115-113 Kawashima, 120-109 Navarro. The referee was Mark Green of England.