SAN JOSE – Starting up a new career as an EMT and firefighter
since getting laid off at Apple Computers did not pose any
distraction for local champion Kelsey ‘The Road Warrior’ Jeffries
in Thursday night’s tussle with undefeated champ Melissa ‘Honey
Girl’ Del Valle.
SAN JOSE – Starting up a new career as an EMT and firefighter since getting laid off at Apple Computers did not pose any distraction for local champion Kelsey ‘The Road Warrior’ Jeffries in Thursday night’s tussle with undefeated champ Melissa ‘Honey Girl’ Del Valle.
Jeffries (21-8, 1 KO) – who was coming off a June 13 upset decision loss to thrice-beaten Jo Jo Wyman – hunted down her prey and struck like a cobra with a steady flow of rights and lefts throughout her six-round, unanimous decision over Del Valle.
“Last fight, I knew this fight was going to be here in three weeks and I didn’t want to get cut. And Jo was last minute and she’s a big girl and, unfortunately, I wasn’t busy enough,” said Jeffries, looking back and then ahead. “I wanted this. I didn’t care if my face was falling off in there, I was going to give her (hell). I wanted to give her hell.”
The garlic slinger brought her hell in a hand-basket – but Del Valle, now 27-1-1 with 11 KOs, proved to be more than a worthy opponent. The Miami, Florida fighter danced around flashing some fancy footwork and connected with some solid counter-punches. Jeffries, however, was the aggressor – landing tons of power shots to the body and then working her way up to Del Valle’s head.
“She was my smartest opponent, but she wouldn’t stay in there and fight with me. She kept running and that’s so bad,” Jeffries said. “I know she doesn’t mean to run, but that’s how she fights. She’s strong, too. She cracked me with a good punch.”
Jeffries – who calls Gilroy her hometown despite living down in Hollister – also came with a new training staff of the well-respected Rick Noble and Albert Romero in replace of longtime trainer Rick Mello.
“I have Rick Noble, Corina (Moreno), and Albert Romero. These guys helped me tremendously, just their support and being here for me and taking care of me. They take care of me and they fire me up,” said Jeffries of her new staff. “Completely different. He’s here to help me and he cares about me. The victory is theirs.”
Noble and Romero only started working with Jeffries a little over a month leading into the biggest fight of her professional career. Jeffries learned about them through Moreno – who she trains with at the Gilroy Youth Community Center Gymnasium on Sixth Street in Gilroy.
“She gave up a lot of weight. The girl is the champion in the 135-pound class. She outweighed Kelsey by six pounds. But Kelsey came up with the plan to defeat her and we were able to do that,” Noble said. “The girl was a counter-puncher so she likes you to wait and she launches back with one punch. So the plan was to get inside and make her fight a little bit.”
The plan worked out well as Jeffries stalked Del Valle until she was able to get inside and pummel her with solid shots from both sides. Del Valle did work her jab consistently and even brawled with Jeffries at times – converting on some power punches as well.
“This is (my biggest fight). Undefeated fighter. Everybody thinks she’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and she is a great fighter. She’s an excellent fighter,” said Jeffries, who may rematch Del Valle for one of her championship belts. “I landed some good shots on her. I felt my knuckles like my coach said.”
Coach Noble is also a fire captain – helping Jeffries pursue her new career in that field. But last night he was her trainer – guiding her all the way to the most memorable victory of her career.
“We saw a left hook that was open. I told her throw your biggest left hook you could throw. She just didn’t quite get it on the button, but it was there,” said Noble, who was weary of Del Valle’s 11 KO’s coming in.
“We were a little bit concerned about that. We wanted Kelsey to make sure that when she was done with her combinations that she would side-step her, duck up and down, and keep that hand up,” Noble added. “She did pretty good with that. She got caught a couple of times, but she can take a punch.”
Del Valle took several of Jeffries’ hardest shots and kept on ticking. Jeffries landed a powerful right to the head right at the bell to end the third round. She knew it, too, as she pumped her fist to get the crowd behind her. Then, Jeffries clocked Del Valle with a combination to open the fourth round.
“I wanted a fight,” Jeffries said. “That’s what I told her, ‘come on tough girl. Stop running. You came to fight, let’s fight.'”
Emotions ran wild in the fourth round as Jeffries began to taunt Del Valle – shaking her head and putting her gloves down, begging for a brawl. At the end of the fourth, Jeffries continued to talk at Del Valle – who responded with some choice words of her own.
Del Valle showed her spunk in the fifth round. Responding to several shots she received out of the break, Del Valle took some open swings at Jeffries out of the break. But Del Valle – who was up thousands of miles away from her residence in Miami and against Jeffries’ home crowd – was deducted a point for her actions.
“This is my home,” Jeffries said. “I throw down for them.”
After Jeffries kept busy in the fifth round with some clean body shots into combinations, Del Valle valiantly came out in the final three minutes and let her gloves loose – going for the desperation knockout. It didn’t happen.
Following the final bell, the judges’ scoresheets were read off – giving Jeffries a 58-55 unanimous decision on all of them. The decision resulted in a loud ovation for Jeffries – who is undefeated in three fights at ‘The Tank’. The lovable fighter then proceeded to throw T-shirts into the stands, sign autographs, and pose for pictures with her fans.
