PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The funeral of the late boxing star Jizelle Salandy will take place today at the Siparia Cemetery at 14:00 h, following a service at the St Benedict’s Catholic Church in La Romaine, from 11:00 h.

The 21-year-old multiple world light-middleweight champion died Sunday morning in the operating theatre of the Port of Spain General Hospital, after the car she was driving crashed into a pillar on the Beetham Highway near the city.

The other person in the car, national footballer Tammie Watson, home on holidays from a scholarship at Shorter University in Atlanta, USA, is still warded at the Port of Spain General Hospital in a critical condition.

Wilson, aged 22, suffered broken bones in both her legs and collarbone.

Family members and dignitaries got the opportunity to view Salandy’s body at 16:00 h yesterday at Belgroves Funeral Home and Crematorium in San Fernando.

Members of the public were allowed to view the body one hour later.

At a news conference on Monday, Salandy’s manager Boxu Potts said that Salandy told him that she wanted to be buried in her mother’s grave and with her boxing clothes.

“She also told me that she would remain unbeaten till she die,” said Potts.

“I couldn’t understand why she said these things but she did,” added Potts, who had big plans for her during 2009 including a lucrative bout with American Mary Jo Sanders in March.

Potts also mentioned that Salandy, who obtained her driver’s permit two years ago, had a designated driver and was not supposed to be driving until she had developed her skills on the road.

Salandy became the youngest boxer – man or woman — to unify the two most prestigious titles in the world, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) world titles when she defeated Elizabeth Mooney on a seventh round knockout as an 18-year-old in September 2006.

She was also honoured as T&T’s Sportswoman-of-the-Year 2006.

At the time of her death, Salandy held eight international belts and had been named 2008 ‘Boxer of the Year by the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA).

She would have turned 22 years old on Sunday, January 25.

Messages of grief and tributes have been flowing from all sectors since the gifted boxer’s tragic passing including from the local boxing board, FIFA vice-president and local politician Jack Warner, and the local track and field association.

The T&T National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) described her passing as “a huge loss to the entire sporting community and the nation”.

Cecil Forde, chairman of the Amateur Boxing Board of Trinidad and Tobago, described her passing as painful.

“This is painful, really painful. This is going to be a big blow for boxing in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said in a Trinidad Express newspaper story.

Warner, Chaguanas West MP, sent condolences to the family of the late boxing champion.

“The circumstances of her death are especially disheartening,” he said.

“A young woman with so much potential, so much ahead of her in her chosen field has been lost to us at a time when there are so few heroes for our youth to emulate, “ Warner said.