(MARCH 3) Chevelle “Fists of Steel” Hallback of Plant City, Florida returned to the ring in March 2024 since her previous fight in December 2022 and won against Yamila “La Maquinita” Reynoso of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This fight was for the vacant National Boxing Association (NBA) welterweight title. The fight was scheduled for 10 two-minute rounds. The promoter was Alessi Promotions. The venue was the Hilton Tampa Downtown in Tampa, Florida. The event was live streamed by TrillerTV.

Reynoso her alias “La Maquinita” means “The Little Machine”  had world title shots fighting some of the very top female boxers in the sport, but had never won.  In 2017, she lost to Chris Namus by unanimous decision for the vacant IBF super welterweight title. In 2018, she lost to Erica Farias by unanimous decision for the WBC super lightweight title. Later that year, she lost to Amanda Serrano by unanimous decision for the vacant WBO super lightweight title. Reynoso is rated the No. 15 welterweight contender in the world by the International Boxing Organization (IBO) which uses computerized ratings. Hallback is not currently rated since she was inactive for more than one year.

Hallback is 52 years old and Reynoso is 27. There are female world-class boxers in their 40s, but it is uncommon for men or women to be world-class boxers in their 50s. It is a rarity for people in their 50s to even be professional boxers. Hallback said before the fight that she is a 6-time world champion and that she will become a 7-time world champion. Hallback previously won world titles in the featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions.

In a history-first for the sport,  Hallback  won the WBAN P4P  Championship belt for her win over Jeannine Garside by split decision, which included the International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) lightweight title. The WBAN website awards the WBAN belts to the winner of a fight between the best female boxers in a weight class.

During Hallback’s walk to the ring, three people were also walking and holding her belts from the IFBA, WBAN, and the World Boxing Federation (WBF) which was for a world welterweight title. This NBA world title fight is also in the welterweight division.

In round one, Hallback and Reynoso were mostly throwing the left jab. In round two, Hallback twice had Reynoso in one of the ring corners. Both boxers landed punches to the head, but Hallback landed more. In round three, the fight was not visible on TrillerTV. A message on the screen stated “No signal from venue” and “Waiting for incoming signal.” This message continued during the first minute of round four. With just over a minute left in round four, the fight was viewable. Both connected with punches towards the end of this round.

In round five, there was an accidental headbutt which adversely affected Hallback. She went down after the headbutt, but it was correctly not ruled a knockdown by the referee. The referee paused the fight for up to five minutes to allow Hallback to recover. The fight resumed with renewed vigor from both boxers after the timeout. Both were throwing power punches, but Hallback was landing more of them. The up-tempo continued at the start of round six. Reynoso landed more punches than Hallback in round seven. In round eight, Hallback landed more solid shots and Reynoso was holding in the clinch. There was more foot movement than hand movement in round nine from both boxers. Reynoso landed more punches in the tenth and final round, but both boxers were doing what they could to finish on a high note.

The judges’ scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94 all in favor of Hallback by unanimous decision. Hallback improves her record to 34-9-2, 13 KOs. Reynoso’s record is now 13-16-3, 8 KOs. One of the commentators said he unofficially scored it six rounds to four, so he agreed with the judge who scored the fight 96-94. It was a close fight and there were close rounds, but it was a deserved victory for Hallback and a tremendous accomplishment for her to win a world title at 52 years of age.Bay News 9 which is a television news network in St. Petersburg, Florida published an article on its website on March 1. The article stated that if Hallback wins, she will be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest boxer to win a world title.

The Guinness World Records website states that Alicia Ashley holds the record for oldest female boxer to win a world title at 48 years of age. Ashley won the WBC super bantamweight title for a second time in October 2015 to attain this record recognized by Guinness.The World Boxing Association (WBA) was originally known as the NBA because it was formed as the National Boxing Association in 1921. It changed its name to the World Boxing Association in 1962.

BoxRec will only recognize the original version of the NBA, so its world titles are listed on BoxRec as National Boxing Association (1921-1962) and then the weight class. BoxRec does not recognize the current NBA and there does not seem to be a legitimate reason for this. [WBAN comment on this:  Many in the sport could literally "care less" what BoxRec, aka "BoxWRECK" lists at this time.  The boxing community are well-aware of  their questionable bias and "interests"---Sue TL Fox]  There is apparently no animosity between the current NBA and the WBA which was the original NBA. NBA President Damon Gonzalez was at the recent WBA Convention in Orlando, Florida. He gave an NBA mini belt to WBA President Gilberto Mendoza Jr.

The fight between Hallback and Reynoso is listed on both of their records on BoxRec, but the NBA welterweight title that was at stake is not listed. Could it be possible that Guinness will not recognize Hallback’s accomplishment as a new world record holder for oldest boxer to win a world title because of the omission of the current NBA from BoxRec? [They shouldn't - there was no reason for this not to be listed, as other world title bouts that are not listed with certain belts-Sue TL Fox]  BoxRec states on its website that it is the official record keeper [An "official Record Keeper" that doesn't accurately keep records--that is a joke. BoxRec got roasted at the last WBC Convention over their antics in record keeping, etc.  We had posted the video---Sue TL Fox], but that data may be incomplete or inaccurate. Will Guinness only recognize world titles from sanctioning bodies whose titles are required to become “undisputed” world champion (WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF)? I do not know, but I believe that all female world titles are significant.

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