Je­lani Beck­les

For­mer na­tion­al box­er Giselle Sa­landy was re­mem­bered with a lun­cheon at Mau Pau, Ari­api­ta Av­enue, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day.

Sa­landy, who died six years ago in a ve­hic­u­lar ac­ci­dent near to NP on the Beetham High­way, will be ho­n­oured in a world ti­tle fight in March or April.

Buxo Potts, spe­cial ad­vi­sor to the T&T Box­ing Board of Con­trol (T&TB­BC), who al­so trained and man­aged Sa­landy said: "It is a bit­ter sweet mo­ment, it is bit­ter be­cause our icon­ic fig­ure Giselle Sa­landy is not here with us, gone too soon at a young age. But it is sweet to know we could cel­e­brate her life and times. She died six years ago and to­day Mau Pau has de­cid­ed to have a lun­cheon in mem­o­ry of her and to launch a fight.

"We will have a fight in ho­n­our of her in her home­town. Miss Loris­sa Ri­vas (T&T) will be con­test­ing Mikaela Lau­rens of Swe­den for a ti­tle. It is the su­per wel­ter­weight di­vi­son. We are very pleased to have such a high ac­co­lade in box­ing right here in her home­land. This fight is go­ing be in late March or ear­ly April. We still await a date but the fight­ers are ready."

Own­er of Su­pe­ri­or Pro­mo­tions Har­ry Ra­goo­nanan, who was the pro­mot­er of Sa­landy's 2007 world ti­tle fight al­so paid trib­ute to the for­mer cham­pi­on.

"To­day is a very spe­cial day for us in that we re­mem­ber the life and times of Giselle Sa­landy who passed away six years ago yes­ter­day (Sun­day). In ho­n­our of her I am very hap­py to see we are get­ting a world ti­tle fight.

Ra­goo­nanan stat­ed that Sa­landy nev­er got the op­por­tu­ni­ty to reach her full po­ten­tial. "This coun­try has nev­er seen the full strength of Giselle Sa­landy and what she was ca­pa­ble off. She died too soon. The coun­try missed out on what she re­al­ly had to of­fer. I am very hap­py that we could re­mem­ber such a great cham­pi­on and she has been recog­nised by box­ing as­so­ci­a­tions all over the world."

Neale Greaves, a di­rec­tor on the T&TB­BC called for sup­port. Greaves said: "We are look­ing for­ward to a world ti­tle fight. We are call­ing on all cor­po­rate spon­sors, we are call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment of T&T, we are cal­lling all box­ing en­thu­si­asts to come out and give us that sup­port. This is an in­ter­na­tion­al event and we wel­come every­one on board."

Potts sent a strong mes­sage to the young peo­ple of the coun­try to live re­spon­si­ble lifes. "Take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for what goes in­side of you. Do not drink and dri­ve, do not dri­ve tired.

"I am not say­ing she (Sa­landy) used drugs, I am not say­ing she was drink­ing and dri­ving but I be­lieve she was tired and this may have caused her un­time­ly death."