(FEB 20) Boxing is a very basic,
one on one sport; two boxers, one ring, "let's get ready to
rumble." However, like almost everything else, opportunity in
boxing is seldom as simple and clear cut as the sport. A member
of a major boxing organization told me recently, "talent isn't
everything" and she was right.
Unfortunately, far too many of
the supposed overseers of the sport seem to take that mantra as
a guide when providing opportunities for boxers. Sometimes it's
a famous last name that gets a fighter a fast start; it could be
an association with a movie, a "spread" in a national magazine
or something equally as ephemeral. Should those fighters who
take advantage of such "breaks of the game" be derided?
Absolutely not.
Boxing is the toughest of all sports and every
athlete who has the courage to take up that sport, should take
advantage of every "break" available. But the fact is that far
more boxers never get such "breaks," they campaign for years
solely on the basis of their skill in the ring, a passion for
their sport, and an indomitable will that keeps them going
through the "ups and downs" of a sport that practically invented
that term. A will that's impossible to convey with mere words.
And then, every once in a while, even in the sport of boxing,
the right thing happens to the right person. This time it will
happen on March 2 in Tampa, FL because an Army vet, turned
boxing promoter, named Jerry Estrada, decided, against
substantial peer advice, to bring Chevelle Hallback back home
and put her on top of an eight bout fight card in the Convention
Center on the first Friday in March.
It might be the first time
a female boxer is headlining a program with male and female
bouts in the state of Florida (there are two other female bouts
scheduled that night). Estrada was still checking records when I
talked to him last week from his headquarters in Tampa. But
that's just a detail. The big news is that Hallback, who has had
to go, literally, around the world to get fights (her last two
bouts were in Denmark and France) is being provided with the
opportunity to showcase her world class skill in a hometown
where she has fought only once before in a fifteen year,
thirty-nine bout career (an October 2005 ND against Melissa Del
Valle).
Estrada related how he made his choice of main event fighters, "Chevelle
is an icon in the community, not just the boxing community, all
across Tampa. When I announced the fight, I got ticket requests
from the school board and we'll have two bus loads of students
attending the bout. And I was able to get a terrific fighter to
step in with Chevelle. Terri Blair brings the same toughness to
the ring that she brought the first time she fought Chevelle (an
eight round decision for Hallback in July 2007). You can throw
out Terri's record (11-15-3), she's been in with the best in the
sport over a ten year career. This is a match-up that qualifies
as a main event on any card, it just so happens that the
fighters in this one are female."
Estrada is right about Hallback and Blair. In their first bout,
in Temecula, CA, the decision after eight rounds of bell/bell
action went to Halfback (78-74, 79-73 and 77-75) and she has
said the effects of those eight rounds lasted long past the
final bell. These are two fighters who have been in with the top
fighters in Women's boxing and they both started early. Blair
fought Mary Jo Sanders twice in her first eight bouts and
Hallback stepped in with Lucia Rijker in the second professional
bout of her career. Both are nonstop fighters who know one gear,
forward and one pace, all out. It's what every boxing card hopes
for in a main event, two good, experienced fighters with ring
skills. And, to his credit, Jerry Estrada didn't waste time
searching for some irrelevant title belt for this bout. This is
simply eight rounds between two good fighters who have fought
their way through those "ups and downs" of the sport and done it
with a skill that will obvious from the opening bell on March 2.
And after the bout, Jerry Estrada will probably have an answer
for all those who scoffed at his choice of main event fighters.
But this is Chevelle Hallback's night. She's the one coming
home. She's the one who will be answering the bell out of the
"house" corner. She's the one those kids off the bus will be
making noise for.
And Chevelle Hallback deserves a night at home after fifteen
years of long journeys to tough fights. She deserves a night at
home after fifteen years of representing herself and her sport
with unique ring skill against anyone and everyone who has
mattered in Women's boxing. She'll do it again on March 2 and on
that night she'll also be proof positive that, even in boxing,
every once in a while, the right thing happens to the right
person.
Bernie McCoy
