Top Female Fighters Del Valle and Jeffries Clash on Thursday in San Jose

Boxing fans in the San Jose area always make it a point to get to the HP Pavilion for the "Miller Lite Fight Night at The Tank" series, presented by Golden Boy Promotions. But this Thursday, fans from all around California may be making their way in for the fights, especially fans of women's boxing, where two of the best in the sport, pound for pound, square off in a featherweight battle.

For one of the participants, Melissa Del Valle, it's simply a chance to fight, something that becomes difficult when you're 27-0-1 with 11 KOs.

"It's so hard to get fights that I felt obligated to take it," said Del Valle, who originally hails from New York, but now makes her home in Florida. "Win, lose, or whatever, I'm going to fight my hardest, and that's going to be the bottom line."

Her opponent, Kelsey Jeffries, is no stranger to "Fight Night at The Tank" fans, or to the top of the women's game, as she currently holds the IFBA featherweight title (which won't be on the line Thursday). But while Del Valle has only fought once in 2003 (a January win over Brenda Bell Drexel), the aptly nicknamed "Road Warrior" has fought four times already.

Not that Del Valle hasn't been busy. A lifetime athlete, the 34-year-old recently entertained the possibility of playing pro football!

"I've played softball, basketball, baseball, I even made the professional football league," said Del Valle. "But I quit because I couldn't do boxing and football at the same time. I would risk getting injured and not getting paid in football."

And though she was leaning towards playing quarterback or running back, Del Valle admits, "I would have played any position because I'm pretty quick. I 'm pretty good too. (laughs) I played all my life with my two brothers and all the guys in the street. I'm pretty good at athletics because we grew up in the projects."

Her brother, Lou Del Valle, is a former world light heavyweight champion (who will also be back in the ring this weekend), and the reason Melissa initially took up the sport. She just didn't know it would turn into a career.

"I only planned on going to the Golden Gloves," said Del Valle, who won two New York Golden Gloves titles and a National amateur championship. "I only did them to have a connection with my oldest brother. We didn't have the brother and sister relationship we should have had, so I did it for him. Then he wanted me to go on to the Nationals. So I went and I was about to quit after the nationals, but then we saw Christy Martin. That was another goal, but it never happened. And I'm still in it." (Laughs)

A pro since 1997, Del Valle has two super featherweight titles and a super bantamweight title on her impressive resume. And though her accomplishments would be the envy of any fighter, she still wants more before she hangs up the gloves.

"Now I'm managing myself and I'm not looking to be protected," said Del Valle. "I want to fight the best of the best. I'll go to their backyard and I'll fight anybody. I'm getting older and I want to be able to know where I stand in the sport. And this is the last sport I'm ever going to play before I have a family or move on with my life."

But first she has to contend with Kelsey Jeffries, and I'll say it once again, if you are a fan of women's boxing, this is a must see fight. And Del Valle believes she will have to trade punches with Jeffries to get the W, even though that's not her preferred style.

"I call it as I see it," she laughs. "I'm not a tough girl. I hit and I run. I don't like to sit there and get hit. I hit and I run, and it's been working to this point. Jeffries has boxing technique, but she also will get caught up in a brawl. That's not me. I like to stick to the plan. I don't know if I'll be able to stick with the plan with her this time around. I'm gonna have to fight come Thursday."

That's a good thing for boxing fans, and when it's over, they can say they' ve seen women's boxing fought at its highest levels. As for Del Valle, she never expected to be in boxing this long, but now that she's here, she's going to make an impact.

"It's a rollercoaster ride," she says, "but I'm gonna keep riding until God tells me to get off."

In Thursday's Main Event, Yosuke Nishijima (24-1-1, 15 KOs) and Cecil McKenzie (11-6, 8 KOs) square off for the California State Cruiserweight Championship.

Also on the card is unbeaten local star Ricardo Cortes (9-0-1, 6 KOs), who takes on Robert Davis (9-16-3) in an eight round super middleweight bout.

Other bouts:

Arturo Quintero (7-0, 4 KOs) vs Victor Guerrero (2-2) - Super Featherweights - Six Rounds Francisco Sanchez (debut) vs Gary Owens (debut) - Junior Welterweights - Four Rounds