A member of a sports-minded family of Puerto Rican decent. Del Valle took up boxing in the early 1990s, while her older brother Lou Del Valle was making a name for himself as a light-welterweight boxer.
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.
She 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. On September 12, 1998, Del Valle won a 10-round unanimous decision over Melinda Robinson to claim the vacant WIBF super featherweight title.

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