(JUNE 3) Melissa "Honey Girl" Del-Valle---as she was known in the boxing ranks, with her uncompromising style that made her one of the most decorated women’s boxer in the history of the sport.

Photo Credit:  Sue TL fox
 

5’5” Melissa was born in Queens, New York. As a child growing up on the tough streets of Queensbridge, she used sports as an outlet. Melissa never backed down from a challenge. She was an athlete and a fighter in the streets before becoming one in the ring. When her three brothers played stickball, baseball, basketball or football, they always picked her to be on their team.

In the early 1990’s Melissa began boxing at the Morris Park Boxing Club in New York City after going to a fight where her friend Roy Jones Jr. knocked out his opponent. That started Melissa thinking, “that doesn't look too hard" and encouraged by her brother Lou, a WBA Light Heavyweight champion, Melissa trained for the New York Daily News Golden Gloves.

Then fighting under her married name of Melissa Salamone, she won the New York state Golden Gloves title at 132 pounds in 1996 and 1997. In the latter year, she added the national amateur lightweight title, sweeping all five scorecards in the finals on July 19, 1997.

Melissa then announced she was joining the professional ranks, debuting on September 5, 1997 with a first-round knockout of Marsha Evans. She followed that up with several more impressive victories, and one year and one week later, she earned her first title shot.

Some of the highlights of Melissa's professional boxing career:
 
On September 12, 1998, Melissa won a 10-round unanimous decision over Melinda Robinson to claim the vacant WIBF super featherweight title.

Melissa fought and won six non-title bouts over the next 11 months, then defended her title against fellow unbeaten Lena Akesson on August 14, 1999 in Miami Beach, Florida. Despite suffering a cut over one eye and an early knockdown, she rallied late to win by a unanimous decision.

Melissa fought many of the top female boxers that included, Laura Serrano, Isra Girgrah, Kelsey Jeffries, Kelli Cofer, Chevelle Hallback, and more. Some other highlights included:

On June 21, 2002, she faced Ada "the Ace" Velez for the WIBA super bantamweight title, which was a featured event on an all-women's card featuring several of the sport's top female boxers. Melissa rose to the occasion, taking Velez' title by winning a ten-round unanimous decision.  WBAN covered this world title bout ringside and saw firsthand the talent of "Honey Girl" as she fought another elite athlete "The Ace" delivering her first professional loss in the sport.

On October 11, 2003, she handed undefeated Kelli Cofer her first loss in a six-round fight in Greensboro, North Carolina. The win over Cofer improved her career record to 28 wins, three losses and one draw, with 11 knockouts.

At the time of her career, she and her brother were the only brother and sister to both win world boxing titles; Lou Del-Valle was WBA light-heavyweight champion from 1997–98. She was also the first in women's boxer to fight on the same card as her (then) husband, Craig Salamone. The two appeared together on a card in Atlanta, Georgia on November 21, 1997.

She is known by the nickname “Honey Girl”, in deference to her brother, who calls himself “Honey Boy” because of a reputation for being able to slip punches from opponents.

Melissa ultimately achieved becoming a multiple world champion fighting from 1997 to 2007, and  accumulating an impressive record of 30-6-1 (12KO).

After Melissa left the sport after her last professional fight in 2007, in 2017 she was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame. 

She now continues her journey as a "Hall of Famer" with the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame, and hopefully we will see this top fighter from the past, be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame!