BoxRec

Anyone who's been on this site for any length of time is probably familiar with my view of the suspicions ease with which Dariusz Michalczewski and his promoter (Universum's Klaus-peter Kohl) allowed DM's newly-won IBF and WBA light-heavyweight titles to be stripped after his 1997 win over their previous owner, Virgil Hill. Several people have taken issue with this claim, correctly pointing out that I have no proof of this (unless one is privy to the inner dealings of Universum Promotions, it's of course unprovable.) While I still have no proof, I can say now that I'm not the only one who claims that DM and Universum deliberately ditched the WBA and IBF strap - they knew full well that the WBA didn't allow its titleholders to also hold the WBO title, and they didn't seem to fight the IBF's ridiculous you-must-a-manadatory-within-30-days edict post-Hill, though they surely could have gotten a court injunction there - none other than then-top-light-heavyweight contender Lou Del Valle has the same opinion.

While researching some Golden-gloves-related stuff, found this interesting 2001 interview (the copyright says 2002, but the interview had to have been conducted in 2001) of Lou Del Valle by BraggingRightsCorner's Elisa Harrison (a.k.a. Saratogamist):

http://www.braggingrightscorner.com/lou.html

Much of this must be taken with a large pinch of salt - he makes a lot of excuses about the Jones fight, even goes so far as to call RJJ a "traitor" for moving up from 168 to what he seems to consider his personal pet division, and alleges his controversial 1996 loss to Virgil Hill in Hill's home state was a fixed fight (I see it more as a classic hometown decision for Hill).
But I found especially interesting the part about DM keeping just his WBO title after beating Hill on points in 1997 to capture Hill's WBA, IBF and lineal light-heavyweight titles (color emphasis mine):

BRC: Let's talk about a fellow named Dariusz Michalczewski. Would you like to fight him?

LOU: I WANT TO KNOCK HIM OUT! He can't beat me, he can't beat me. Matter of fact, after I fought Virgil Hill, I beat Virgil Hill, and they robbed me.

BRC: We are going to get to that one. I want to talk about that fight, believe me I want to talk about Virgil Hill.

LOU: Okay, okay, but what I want to say is that I know what happened. That fight was on a fix (sic). Because if I win that fight, I can't go to Germany and fight Henry Maske for a million dollars. I can't go to fight Dariusz Michalczewski for a million dollars because I am not marketable, I have no name. That is why they didn't give me that fight. But, I would have knocked out Henry Maske and I would have knocked out Dariusz M. Because I am a slick fighter and I can punch. And I know that Michalczewski comes walking right in. Virgil hit him with everything in the book, but the kitchen sink, the only thing is Virgil Hill can't punch. I don't think there is no fighter in the world that can step to me, with no respect, the way he did Virgil Hill. Even though, I was there live, I fought on the under card, and I thought the fight was close, until Dariusz pulled it off in the end. But my point is that Michalczewski was supposed to fight me next, and he gave up the belt not to fight me. So, he knew something that I knew, that he couldn't mess with me. Plus, I am a southpaw.

BRC: Why do think Michalczewski is such a protected fighter?

LOU: He makes big money out there. The money out there in Germany, it's ridiculous, what you can fight for. Had he fought Virgil Hill in New York he would have gotten $800,000.00. He probably got two million. They want to pay Roy Jones ten million to go over there and fight him, so that tells you how they pay Dariusz. The money is so big out there. When they have a champion out there, they want to keep him. The Europeans are very smart when it comes to that. When somebody becomes a champ in a European country, they try to milk it to the end. Why do you think Dariusz stays WBO champ? Because there is no mandatory, that's the key right there, and I think that is pretty smart.

On a related note: I haven't seen either of the 2 Del Valle/Girard fights, both of which took place in France. Was the scoring for those on the level, or was Girard the beneficiary of hometown judging?