It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have to inform you James’s WBC World Title and Roo’s fight in Australia is off.
The last 5-6 days has been an extremely difficult and challenging time here in Bangkok to say the least………..
On Tuesday of last week James went to a local hospital to seek treatment for what the doctor and James thought was a simple bacterial skin infection over his head, neck, chest and in his right eye, which the doctor treated with antibiotics.
However, over the next couple of days his symptoms dramatically worsened and by Friday morning he had been to two other hospitals and seen by numerous other doctors for treatment as he was also in a lot of pain, had a fever and shooting pains in the back of his head.
In the early hours of Friday morning he was referred to a tropical disease and eye specialist who said he had an aggressive viral skin infection which had also infected his eye and was degrading the soft tissue of his eye ball!!! They immediately put him on anti- viral medication, antihistamines and pain killers.
It was then quite apparent that the infection was quite serious as the doctor said he should not travel to Australia to fight until they knew exactly what and how to treat the infection and prescribed antiviral medication.
The lesions on his skin are extremely painful and sore as you can see and he is in a bad way both physically and mentally. At this point all we are concerned about is his state of health and the priority is to get the best medical care we can afford.
As a consequence of all this we, (me, Harry and Roo), had to make the difficult decision yesterday whether to still fly out to Australia for Roo’s fight!! It wasn’t a difficult decision at all, it was a no brainer and we decided to stay with James in Bangkok until he finished his treatment. His wife and mum also cancelled their flights to Australia and rebooked to come to Thailand and arrived last night. Today (Monday) he has an appointment to see the two specialist doctors and his treatment is ongoing.
It’s absolutely tragic and it shows how life can be so unpredictable and cruel at the very worst possible time!!! The time, effort, money and energy that has gone into preparing for this fight …… just taken away!!!
The wider consequences of Roo losing his opportunity, the significant financial loss for all parties concerned, the financial cost of treatment, which by the way really makes you appreciate and treasure our NHS and the cost of having to stay on in Thailand. Finally the problems this causes for the promoter and the disappointment for the fighters concerned.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Nakia, the Australian promoter of MTL for her understanding and professionalism and wish her all the best for the show.
We are not sure how long we are going to be here for James’s treatment but we hope by the end if this week he will be able to fly. He will eventually be okay and make a full recovery in time.
James is adamant that Roo fights so we are working hard to try and get Roo matched here in Bangkok before we come home but there is no guarantee.
James is absolutely devastated as you can imagine and I request you give him some space and time this week as he is still being treated and still in pain and discomfort and still processing what’s happened and coming to terms with it all.
