07 Mar Chevelle Hallback, World Champion Boxer, Record-Holding Powerlifter, Actress

I am from Plant City, a small town in Florida I like to call Itty Bitty Plant City. My father joined the military when I was six years old, so I have lived and traveled worldwide. I even graduated from high school in Stuttgart, Germany.

At the age of five, my mother took me with her to see the movie Rocky I. During the film, there was this scene where Rocky and Apollo Creed were in a slugfest. Apollo was starting to get the best of Rocky, and Rocky was not fighting back.  So in the middle of the movie theater, mother jumped out of her seat and screamed at Rocky, “Hit him back, hit him back!” I remembered smiling and laughing in excitement!  A few years later, at the tender age of five, after watching the second fight of Muhammad Ali vs. Michael Spinks II, my love for boxing was sparked. After watching that fight, I felt that I could do what I saw Ali doing to Spinks. I went to bed wishing and dreamed that I would become a boxer one day.  Eighteen years later, female boxing emerged on the scene and I worked extremely hard to turn my dreams into a reality.

My journey to becoming a professional boxer was encouraged and was also greeted with many adversities. I was the only female in the boxing gym because boxing for females was fairly new when I started. At the beginning of my training, I was either ignored or paid little attention. When I verbalized my frustration of not getting the proper training like my male counterparts, I was thrown in the ring to spar against a male fighter with much more experience than I. During that sparring session, he dropped me three times. After the third time of being dropped, the trainer ended the sparring and told me that was enough for the day. I was very embarrassed and ashamed of how I was handled during this sparring session and was treated with snickering and laughter after getting dropped.

I went to the bathroom, shed a few tears, wiped my tears, came back out of the bathroom, looked my trainer straight in the eyes, and asked him what time I needed to be back for training the next day. He looked at me with shock and utter disbelief at the question I asked of him. He said, “You REALLY want to do this? You really think you are going to become a boxer?!” Still looking him straight in his eyes and without blinking, I said, “NO…I don’t think I want to become a boxer. I KNOW I am going to become a boxer. And not only am I going to become a boxer, I am going to become a world champion!”

Well, after only one year of making that statement, I became a professional boxer. And one year and one month of being a professional boxer, I am proud to say that I succeeded and became a world champion.  I have been boxing for 25 years, from 1997-to current. I am a five-time former world champion, and at 147lbs, I’m currently ranked 2nd in the USA and 8th in the world.  I was one of the first women to fight on ESPN (as well as three other major networks) and in 2005, a short documentary about my boxing career entitled ‘Fist of Steel’ debuted at the Tribeca New York Film Festival.

Fighting now for 25 years, I’m thinking about retiring in the near future. But because I am a natural-born athlete and very competitive in almost everything I do, I have picked a new passion for the sport of powerlifting. I competed in my first competition in the bench press and walked away with my first medal. In bench pressing, you have three lifts to complete. On my second lift, I broke the national Florida state record in my age group of 50-59 years old and weight class of 167lbs. Then, I set a new national Florida state record on my third lift by breaking my own record.

At anything I do, I try to be the best that I can be at it. And for me, being the best means going against the grain and conquering obstacles that one may feel is unobtainable because of my age, gender, or status. Also, I put a lot of time and energy into motivating others, something I’ve been naturally doing all my life. I want my life and how I live it to be an example to others, especially women, that you can do and achieve anything your mind and body is capable of achieving. And for that reason alone is what has inspired and pushed me to achieve the level of success I have achieved thus far.

When I am not training or competing, I enjoy inspiring and motivating by speaking at schools (elementary through college), companies, and individuals as a professional keynote motivational speaker. I talk about the vivid stories of my experiences and my journey as a professional boxer and other life endeavors.  As a screenwriter, an actress, and an executive producer for Chevelle Hallback Films, I also enjoy creating inspirational and motivational films. My first film, about forgiving and letting go, Chevelle Hallback’s “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” can be viewed on my YouTube channel, Chevelle Hallback’s Films.

Chevelle sets records for inspiring women everywhere. She beats the odds and shows that women have no limits when we set our minds to what we want to do!

website: www.chevellehallback.com

social media:

Youtube Channel: Chevelle Hallback’s Films

Instagram: chevelle_hallback

chevellehallback_actress

hallback_swag

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fists27 or Chevelle Hallback

Facebook page: @hallbackswag