Chevelle Hallback’s Reprise

Reprise is a musical term, meaning “a repeated passage of music, or a return to an earlier musical theme.” Reprise also holds another definition as a transitive verb, meaning “take back or recover by force”. On March 26, Chevelle Hallback will return to Albuquerque, New Mexico to rematch Holly Holm, on the “Warrior Vengeance“ card, and this time, is looking to rewrite a passage in her career resume and soundly defeat the hometown heroine and multi world champion.

By all means, this is a tall order. Chevelle has not had a fight date since June 2008 in Albuquerque when she defeated Jeannine Garside to claim the IFBA lightweight crown. The Garside fight was a rousing ten round slug fest which saw Chevelle, the veteran and Jeannine, her challenger trade shot for shot- and steal the show from the Holm/Mary Jo Sanders main event. “The fight with Jeannine was a good fight,” Chevelle said. “She was a very tough fighter, took a lot of shots that almost had her out but she weathered the storm. Jeannine had decent power whenever she landed a punch and she fights with a lot of heart.’” A 21 month lay off, the same circumstance as when she faced Holm the first time looms before her now as she prepares for their next bout. Chevelle is aware of the issues surrounding this rematch. “My first fight with Holly was one of my worst performances for date,” Chevelle admitted. “I didn’t do anything in that fight but pretty much follow her the whole night. Holly is in superb shape and does very well keeping her opponent at bay. Other than ring rust and not being prepared for fighting at such a high altitude my major mistake was to follow her around the ring the whole night. Holly is very tough because the one good punch I was able to hit her with shook her up, but she came back stronger. She is a very conditioned, technical and disciplined fighter and that type of fighter will give anyone problems- and to top it all off,” Chevelle exclaimed, “She’s left handed!”

Chevelle has learned from her past mistakes in fighting Holly and is determined the outcome March 26 will be dramatically different, “You will see a VERY different fight this time around with Holly and I,” she promised. “I am in almost the same situation as I’ve not been in the ring in a while, but this time,” she continued, “ I have enough time to prepare for the altitude. I believe when I am in superb shape there is not one female fighter out there in my weight class or above my weight class that can beat me.”

Even though Chevelle’s career has been slowed because matches are difficult to find, she makes this promise for the Holm fight and the other fights she gets in 2010. “I plan to make a huge dent in female boxing not only for myself but for female boxing in general,” she said. “I am setting out to be one of the first female boxers to fight and be televised on HBO. With major exposure such as that, female boxing can not help but grow. Bottom line- female boxing needs mainstream exposure to survive and who better than myself to make it happen? I am on a mission and I will not stop until that mission is complete.”

Holly Holm has rematched three opponents- Terri Blair, Angelica Martinez and Mary Jo Sanders, winning all but the Sanders redo which was scored a draw. Chevelle is aware of the statistics, knowing everyone expects history to repeat itself and Holm to chalk up yet another victory. “That’s OK, she said. “I enjoy the role of the underdog. It makes me work harder and the victory that much sweeter.”

For more information on “Warrior Vengeance”, headlined by Chevelle Hallback and Holly Holm, Friday, March 26 at the Isleta Resort Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico call Fresquez Promotions, 505-884-7484