The following feature story on Jizelle Salandy was published in Express Woman on April 6, 2008. This slightly edited version is reproduced today for our readers in light of the champion boxer’s death in a car accident at the age of 21.

I knew some things about 21-year-old Jizelle Salandy before meeting her. I knew she was a world renowned boxer- the way how news travel fast in Trinidad, it would be difficult not to know that she defeated Polish boxer, Karolina Lukasik at the Centre of Excellence, last weekend to reclaim her World record, winning eight belts, the WBC, WBA, WBE, WIBA, WBF,GBU, WIBF and UBC, all in one fight.

It was clear to me why she won, she had a strong Spartan personality and nothing seemed impossible for this young athlete. I also knew of her controversial entry into the ring at the tender age of 14, her historical bout against Paulo Rojas in Curacao, the only country which did not have a law forbidding a 14-year-old from entering a boxing ring, and her sweet victory, a brave statement that she was no lightweight in the world of boxing!

I had read of her troubled childhood-losing the mother she adored at age 11, the absence of a father figure, temporary adoption and moving from house to house in search of a place and family to call her own. Perhaps, her hardships contributed to her unwavering drive to succeed. But amidst the clear picture I had in my mind of Jizelle Salandy, I honestly didn’t know who Jizelle Salandy really was until last Tuesday!

The busy office of promoter Harry Ragoonanan seemed the perfect backdrop for our meeting. Dressed in jeans, Puma sneakers and pink baby tee, Salandy went through the interview with an easy-going girl-next-door charm, not the tough-talking boxer we see on television just before her fights. She spoke of her bout against Lukasik casually, claiming that it wasn’t one of her more challenging bouts. ’The preparation leading up to the fight was much tougher than the actual fight. Karolina’s height was the only new experience for me but her style wasn’t challenging’, declared Salandy. When quizzed as to her rapid reclamation of the World Record after German boxer Natacha Ragousina’s steal three weeks ago, Salandy was very pleased with her performance and revealed that her primary goal was to make her country proud. ’I love boxing and I love my country so I try to accomplish my personal goals as well as fly my national flag with each fight,’ she confessed. Her biggest boxing dream is to spar against the great Laila Ali. ’My promoter, Harry Ragoonanan, and Manager, Buxo Potts, will decide when the time is right to fight Laila but it’s definitely on the cards for my career,’ she affirmed confidently.

As the interview with Salandy continued, each candid confession made me a little wiser about the booming boxer. About pink being her favourite colour, romantic movies being her weakness and pepper squid being one of her favourite foods.

In years to come she hopes to open a home for abandoned and underprivileged children, her first step towards this journey being patronage of a orphanage developed by the Save the Children Foundation, a project chaired by her promoter Harry Ragoonanan and his wife. ’I love children and I want to give them the pleasures I never had as a child. I hope to have a few kids well in the future, perhaps a triplet or a twin if I am blessed!she exclaimed.

For the moment she finds her joy in her newborn niece, an activity she tries to fit into her busy boxing schedule. Her hectic lifestyle doesn’t accommodate a romantic relationship however, as boxing is her primary focus. ’Relationships are not running away, I prefer to defer this pleasure until after boxing; with regards to any hopefuls I prefer not to answer that question,’ she smiled mischievously.

Essentially, Jizelle Salandy, the uncut version would not have been complete without a photo shoot. Always being a star in the ring, she was never one for the catwalk. ’I am a very simple person. I like to just blend into the crowd so I don’t wear much make up and I’m more a jeans and jersey girl.’

Salandy’s adventure in high fashion has been far and few between as her fascination with belts have more to do with titles rather than couture. But this particular Tuesday, a strange turn of events, took Salandy to another corner of her personality. Enter into the equation, world acclaimed fashion Madame, Heather Jones. When Salandy admitted to feeling somewhat unprepared for the photo shoot, Jones came to her rescue and was more than willing to outfit her for the shoot. And so, a small interview emerged into a fairytale, Jizelle Salandy, the boxer, the tough talking girl-next-door, the romantic, was transformed into a fashion belle.

’Hearing about Salandy was one thing, meeting her in person was another but actually working with her was mind-blowing! In my mind I thought she was hard and rugged but boy was I wrong.

I realised that the ’woman’ in her is profoundly imminent. I dress the femininity in a woman, so Jizelle was a perfect inspiration for me,’ professed Jones who also revealed claimed that the boxer was the perfect canvas for artwork.

A few hours, some dashes of make up courtesy make up artist Yolanda Spence coupled with Jones’s exotic fashion flavour to add the final touches, were all it took for the many sides of Jizelle Salandy to be epitomised in one story.

The way forward for Salandy? Definitely more fights, a degree in Child Psychology is also on the agenda and perhaps a modelling contract with Jones, who knows? ’I want to be a shining light for the youth and I want prove the critics wrong about female boxing,’ she avowed. See Page 11.