By Ronnie Nathanielsz
 
The WBC under its president Jose Sulaiman has organized a medical safety seminar in Jakarta because of his concern over the number of ring deaths in Indoesia with five fatalities in the last eighteen months.
 
The Philippine Games & Amusements Board chief physician Dr. Nasser Cruz who is also vice chairman of the WBC Medical Advisory Board will handle the seminar along with the chairman Dr. Paul Wallace. Internationally respected New Zealand referee Bruce McTavish who has made his home in Angeles City will handle the ring officials seminar along with the chairman of the WBC Ring Officials Committee Hubert Minn.
 
Sulaiman said “safety of boxers is vital, otherwise the sport should not be allowed to continue.” Sulaiman said he was shocked and depressed by a report from Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation president Frank Quill about the spate of recent Indonesian ring deaths. Among the measures the WBC wishes to impose is that boxers carry genuine documents when they go abroad for fights and have proper medical check-ups for hepatitis and Aids.
 
This is regarded as something the GAB itself should look into since several Filipino boxers continue to fight in Thailand without any clearance and are often mauled in terrible mismatches. Even boxers with hepatitis B and other diseases have been known to see action in Thailand because of unscrupulous promoters with the GAB hardly taking any decisive action.