Boxing champion Billy Dib lays wife to rest

Boxing champion Billy Dib was left heartbroken on Sunday as he laid to rest his wife and “angel” Sara.

Sara Selim Dib died aged just 21 on Saturday night due to complications stemming from the treatment of leukaemia.

The couple had planned a December wedding but they married in a civil ceremony six weeks ago after discovering she had cancer.

Dib took to Facebook yesterday to post a touching message to his wife.

“To God we belong and to God we shall return. At 11.30pm last night, my heart passed away. Sara Selim Dib, my best friend, my soul, my everything, my angel forever," Dib wrote.

The 30-year-old had the agonizing task of burying his bride just 24 hours after her passing as to the customary Islamic tradition.

The former world champion who has fought with broken hands and blood in his eyes has not come across an opponent as crippling as grief and could not speak after the death.

His brother and Lakemba State MP Jihad Dib said: “We have been so touched and overwhelmed with the well-wishes we’ve received since Sara’s tragic passing.

“I think it would be the icing on the cake, that’s the day when I will think back and say “I’ve done it, I just beat cancer.’ It will be the realisation that I can do anything.”