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THE Mandaue City government is willing to extend assistance to boxing champion Z ?The Dream? Gorres? who is now in a coma at a hospital in Las Vegas after he collapsed in the ring after winning the bantam weight division fight.
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said the City government will communicate with boxing promoter Michael Aldeguer to ask for whatever assistance they can give for Gorres, a resident of barangay Canduman, in Mandaue.
Fortuna said that like many Cebuanos, he too was shocked when he heard about what happened to Gorres.
?I pray that he will recover and we will see what and how much we can extend to him,? Fortuna said.
Mayor Cortes could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Cortes, Fortuna and other Mandaue City officials awarded Gorres alongside singer Rochelle "Raki" Vega in 2007 for exemplary performance as a Mandauehanon.
Gorres was given special citation in 2007 for winning the Intercontinental Superflyweight belt during his fight against Mexican Eric Ortiz at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California in August that year.
During the awarding ceremony, Cortes described Gorres as one of the Mandauehanons who attained ?the zenith of their careers without any assistance from a deliberate program of the city government.?
?During my watch, I promise that the emergence of another Z Gorres or a Raki Vega will not be left to chance,? the mayor said in 2007.
But last Friday, Gorres collapsed in the ring after winning his bout with Luis Melendez of Columbia at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in the runup to yesterday's match of Manny Pacuiao and Miguel Cotto.
He went down on the last round of his fight with Melendez but was able to get up 30 seconds before the bell rang. Gorres was then declared winner in the bantam weight division fight via unanimous decision.
According to a report from ABS-CBN, Gorres stayed on the floor for five minutes before hew as brought on a stretcher to the University Medical Center where he underwent an emergency surgery to remove a blood clot.
Gorres' father-in-law, Nilo Nicabane told Cebu Daily News that the boxer was in a coma after the operation.
