PLANT CITY, Fla. — A Plant City native is hoping to break records in the boxing ring as the oldest boxer to win a world championship title at the age of 52.

What You Need To Know

  • Chevelle Hallback is a former World Boxing Champion looking to fight for the NBA World Welterweight title belt

  • Hallback is fighting on Saturday at the Hilton in downtown Tampa

  • If she wins, she will be placed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest fighter to win a title

Jab after jab, Chevelle Hallback is giving it her all as she prepares for her next match.

“Boxing, we don’t play, and it takes a special person, a special person to put on these gloves and get in that ring,” she said.

Boxing is a way of life for Hallback, and it’s one of the reasons she says she’s known as the "fists of steel."

“When people meet me outside the ring, they never would have thought I would become a boxer because of my personality," she said. "I’m always smiling.”

But she says it’s become a way of life.

She first became interested in boxing when she was just 7 years old. She started in the sport in 1996 and has been in more than 40 fights.

Six world championships later, she’s now looking for her seventh world title.

But she says being a female in the ring hasn’t always been easy.

“I had to fight against, 'This is a man’s sport,' and I had to go through their politics," Hallback said. "I had to go through people taking me serious as a female boxer."

Statistics show about 32% of boxers in the U.S. are female.

It’s why Hallback says it’s even more important to stay focused in a sport like this.

“Sometimes you can be motivated and sometimes you can’t be motivated, and when motivation is out of the way, that’s when discipline needs to kick in," she said.

It’s not just about the punches she throws, her training includes stretching on the mat and jumping rope to keep her stamina up.

Hallback said she’d like to see more women joining the sport, and she hopes to serve as a role model.

“At anything that I do, I want to show that I’m the best at it, be the best at it," she said. "When you do a team sport, everybody is the best at it, but boxing, it’s just you.”

Keeping her eye on the prize, Hallback is hoping to pave the wave for the next generation of female boxers in the ring and out.

Last year, Hallback was honored at the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame for hitting her 26th year as a professional boxer.