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Post by Dee Williams on Mar 25, 2009 18:10:20 GMT -5
Saturday, April 25 2009 Kristy Follmar16-1-0 (9 KO) WBAN #3 ranked junior welterweight www.wban.org/biog/kfollmar.htm vs. Mary McGee16-0-0 (10 KO) WBAN #10 ranked lightweight www.wban.org/biog/mmcgee.htmCivic Center, Hammond, IN, USA 10 rds, vacant WBC International Jr Welterweight title and WBF Jr Welterweight title |
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Post by Dee Williams on Mar 25, 2009 18:15:53 GMT -5
www.theheraldbulletin.com/sports/local_story_070233518.htmlFollmar returns a championby Rick Teverbaugh The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, IndianaKristy Follmar is back in the ring, and she’s wasting no time in making her presence known.
The 28-year-old female boxer waited four years between bouts before stepping into the ring March 3 in the Pepsi Coliseum against Eva Jones-Young for the vacant World Boxing Foundation’s female light welterweight title.
Follmar, who is trained by former Madison County prosecutor Rodney Cummings, went the full 10 rounds and captured a solid, unanimous decision. The scorecards were 97-92, 97-93, 98-92.
Jones-Young is from South Bend and is a former world bantamweight champ. The loss dropped Jones-Young to 15-4-1 and lifted Follmar to 16-1.
“Her comeback has been really strong,” said Cummings. “Her skill level is solid. Her punching power is solid. That’s the first time she’s gone 10 rounds, and that is very hard. She’d gone eight rounds before.”
The win has set her up to headline a card next month in Hammond, titled “Date With Destiny.” Follmar will be fighting unbeaten Mary McGee for the NABC World Lightweight title. McGee is 16-0. The bout will be held April 25 at the Hammond Civic Center.
“We’re moving down five pounds for this fight,” said Cummings. “Kristy is in very good shape. We need to work on her conditioning a little bit. She was tired after the eighth round of her last fight.”
Follmar is a full-time employee at the Rocky Steady Gym so she has been able to get in a lot of work shaking off that ring rust.
In a press release for the fight Follmar was quoted as saying, “I haven’t been hurt or dropped yet, and I don’t think Mary (McGee) is going to take that from me. I go in there with full confidence. I have worked my butt off and have the ultimate respect for (Mary) except when the bell rings.”
In that same release McGee predicted, “When that bell rings, it’s going to be like two pit bulls going to war and full of bone-crunching action from the first big blow till the last.”
Highlights from past bouts of both of these warriors can be found on youtube.com.
TicketMaster is handling the tickets for the card. Prices are set at $100, $75, $50 and $30.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it sold out,” said Cummings.
The payday is starting to increase for these top-notch female boxers.
“She got $5,000 for her last fight, and she will get $10,000 for the next one,” said Cummings. “That might not sound like a lot but it is more than most except the Las Vegas and Atlantic City boxers are getting. It is more than men are fighting for in this state.”
Having seen Follmar fight in person before the layoff, I can vouch for how hard she works and how punishing she is in the ring.
I wouldn’t want to wager against her claiming her second world title in as many months. Those who make the trip to Hammond will be greatly rewarded.
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Post by Dee Williams on Mar 26, 2009 15:21:33 GMT -5
www.post-trib.com/sports/1463799,locbox.article Follmar-McGee matching up for first timeBy Bob Franko, Gary Post-Tribune correspondent In what is sure to be the biggest test in each of their careers, Gary's Mary McGee is slated to face Cedar Lake native Kristy "Rose" Follmar on the One In A Million (OIAM) "Date With Destiny" card on April 25, 2009. The fight, which will draw the attention of plenty of people with interest in women's boxing, pits McGee, 16-0 (10 KOs), and the currently ranked No. 5 boxer in the U.S.A. women's lightweight division against Follmar (16-1, 9 KOs), ranked No. 1 in the light welterweight class. The tussle will take place the Region's home of great fights, the Hammond Civic Center.
The fight has a pair of belts at stake; McGee's current NABC World Lightweight Title, and the vacant WBC International Super Lightweight Title.
"I have been waiting for this opportunity all my life and if she has the same attitude as I do going into this fight, this is going to be the best fight anyone has ever seen," McGee said in a press release from OIAM.
Fight night will find the two boxers each at their own career intersections. McGee, a rising star in the women's ranks has been shopping for the big fight that could launch her reputation nationally. The 22-year-old Roosevelt graduate hasn't been able to draw the attention of the likes of New York's Ann Saccurato, Las Vegas' Layla McCarter or Tampa's Chevelle Hallbock, the boxers ahead of her in the rankings. However, a solid defeat of Follmar may draw the interest McGee craves.
Follmar, meanwhile, is back in the game after a four-year layoff. The 28-year-old won a convincing unanimous decision over Eva Jones Young (15-4-1) in Indianapolis on Tuesday. While the layoff didn't seem to hinder Follmar, McGee is a finely tuned, conditioned specimen that presents a new challenge.
"I haven't been hurt or dropped yet and I don't think Mary (McGee) is going to take that from me," she said in the press release. "I go in there with full confidence, I have worked my butt off and I have the ultimate respect for (Mary) except when that bell rings," she said.
McGee said that she doesn't plan on watching Follmar celebrate after the fight.
"I refuse to watch her celebrating and taking pictures with my belt after the fight and the only way anyone will see that is if I'm laid out on a stretcher because this is the fight that will show if all my sacrifice has been worth it," McGee said.
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Post by Dee Williams on Apr 5, 2009 22:19:31 GMT -5
www.post-trib.com/sports/1512118,Boxing.article McGee says it's all or nothingBy Steve T. Gorches, Gary Post-TribuneSCHERERVILLE -- There was no fighting during the One in a Million news conference on Saturday at Hooters in Schererville.
But there was plenty of banter leading up to the real fight between Northwest Indiana's two premier female boxers in Mary McGee of Gary and Cedar Lake native Kristy Follmar.
The two will face off on April 25 at the Hammond Civic Center with McGee's NABC Lightweight title on the line, as well as the vacant WBC International Super Lightweight title belt.
Let the trash-talking begin.
"I've never quit for any reason," McGee said, referring to Follmar missing four years of boxing before her last fight on March 3 in Indianapolis. "I haven't had the advantage of taking four years off."
Follmar (16-1, 9 KOs), who defeated Eva Jones-Young in that bout last month to capture the WBF Light Welterweight title, shook off McGee's dart with a surprisingly calm answer.
"Part of my time off was due to being pregnant, and I was training back in the gym right after (having the baby)," she said. "It wasn't four years of doing nothing."
They epitomized their nicknames -- McGee's is "Merciless" while Follmar's is "Rose." McGee wouldn't let up while Follmar tried to retort with civility.
Round two was ready to begin with McGee chiming in once again.
"Nobody's coming off retirement to beat me -- not Kristy Follmar, not Eva, nobody," said McGee (16-0, 10 KOs), who surprised many of those in attendance with her subsequent statement.
"I?need this. If I?lose to her my career could be over. I refuse to lose. If I can't beat her, I don't need this."
Did the 22-year-old McGee really say she wouldn't box anymore if she lost to Follmar?
"Mark my words if I lose to Kristy, I'm quitting," McGee clarified.
The 28-year-old Follmar tried to downplay McGee's ultimatum as youthful exuberance.
"I think Mary is a hungry fighter," Follmar said. "I have one loss on my record. If it's Mary's time to lose, she'll bounce back."
One in a Million Inc. CEO Octavius James sat in the middle of the two exuberant women, almost as a banter buffer.
"You could definitely feel the adrenaline flowing between them," he said.
McGee-Follmar is only the co-main event in the "Date With Destiny" card. The other main event is between Chicago fighters Michael Walker and Orphius Waite. Other fighters in James' stable in the event include Jimmy Holmes and Ed Ochoa, who is one of McGee's sparring partners.
"The main thing is to put pressure on her to push her -- I don't take her lightly,"?said Ochoa, who loves being part of an historic event. "It's the same feeling as (the event at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary last year). Being part of it will be my little stamp on history."
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Post by Dee Williams on Apr 26, 2009 8:20:41 GMT -5
www.post-trib.com/sports/gorches/1544744,gorc.article McGee-Follmar main event lived up to expectationsApril 26, 2009 By Steve T. Gorches, Post-Tribune deputy sports editorHAMMOND: From what local boxing experts tell me, this was the biggest boxing match held locally in about 24 years.
That would have been 1985 when Hammond's Carlos Tite lost a split decision to Calumet City's Mike Landini for the USA Midwest middleweight and USA Mid-American middleweight titles.
Supposedly, Illinois judges gave the fight to Landini and needed a police escort from the Hammond Civic Center.
Here it was Saturday night, and the Civic Center again hosted a huge bout -- Mary McGee of Gary against Kristy Follmar of Cedar Lake.
On the line officially was the WBC International Light Welterweight and NABC World Lightweight titles.
Sounds eerily similar.
The hype for that 1985 bout was enormous, or so I've been told by experts.
The atmosphere was spine-tingling if you were a boxing nut back then. Heck, even if you weren't a big boxing fan, it was an event that you just had to attend and the Civic Center was packed.
On Saturday, the Civic Center was not packed, though cars were parked all over the place around the historic building, in the grass, in illegal parking spots, in handicap spots when no handicap plate was on the car. I?would ask Hammond police officers if they knew that, but several of them were in the building wanting to see the main event.
Slowly the crowd grew, maybe to 2,500 or slightly more in the old building.
Not bad, but not Tite-Landini territory, though not many fights in Northwest Indiana have been or ever will be.
How about the hype?
Well, you knew it was a big deal on Saturday when the WBC Championship committee was on hand.
Leading up to this women's bout, the hype was big. In the media conference at Hooters in Schererville, McGee flung verbal jabs at Follmar left and right while Follmar was quite the professional, not saying anything derogatory about her opponent.
She lived up to her nickname "Fighting Rose", while McGee was quite "Merciless", which is her nickname.
You gotta love the straight-forward nature of boxing monickers.
McGee declared at the press conference a couple weeks ago she would quit if that zero in her loss column turned to one with a loss to Follmar.
She backed it up, though just barely as Gary's very own remained undefeated (17-0) and took home a pair of championship belts after surviving 10 rounds and winning in a decision.
Officially, the judges' tally was 97-93 for McGee from two of them, and a 95-95 draw from the other judge.
I have to agree with that judge since I couldn't have made a decision.
Back and forth with hard hits and no backing down. These women didn't hit like girls and they truly fought like they didn't like each other, though there was the occasion tap of their gloves after each ring of the bell and a congratulatory hug after 10 hard-fought rounds.
I'm not a boxing fan, but this fight lived up to the hype that is sometimes overplayed and theatric in the head-spinning boxing world.
It was more exciting than the previous five bouts put together ... times 1,000.
In the fifth round the crowd chanted their names.
"Kristy, Kristy, Kristy", followed by "Mary, Mary, Mary" even louder.
In the seventh round, the chants returned and the fighters responded -- a right by McGee, followed by a left, then a right-left combo from Follmar. When one turned up the heat, the other rose to the challenge.
It was more than a world championship bout, especially since title belts are sometimes debatable and meaningless in boxing. Not this time.
It was a battle for Queen of Boxing in Northwest Indiana -- the urban bruiser against the country tactician, though Follmar (16-2) has lived in Indianapolis for a few years.
In the end, Gary won out over Cedar Lake for the timing being. Here's hoping there's a rematch soon and another declaration from McGee that she'll quit if she loses. It's working so far.
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Post by Dee Williams on Apr 26, 2009 8:33:22 GMT -5
www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2009/04/26/sports/top/doc64f5003dfb6531fe862575a4001d9f8b.txt
McGee defeats Follmar by majority decision
BY NATE ULRICH, Sunday, April 26, 2009 Gary's "Merciless" Mary McGee defeated Kristy "Rose" Follmar by a majority decision in One In A Million Inc.'s "Date With Destiny" Saturday night at the Hammond Civic Center. With the victory, McGee remained undefeated at 17-0 and captured the vacant WBC International Super Lightweight Championship. NWI Photo Store
Mary McGee spent the past month talking the talk. Now the Gary native is walking the walk with two world titles in hand.
McGee, a Roosevelt graduate, defeated Cedar Lake native Kristy Follmar by a majority decision in One In A Million Inc.'s "Date With Destiny" Saturday night at the Hammond Civic Center.
With the victory, McGee (17-0, 10 knockouts) captured the vacant WBC International Super Lightweight Championship and successfully defended her NABC World Lightweight title. Follmar's WBF World Light Welterweight Championship was not on the line, but McGee did take Region women's boxing bragging rights from the Hanover Central graduate.
"I was a little faster and I was obviously stronger," McGee said. "When she hit me with certain punches, they didn't hurt. She's fast and she throws good shots, but I was able to absorb the shots."
At a news conference about three weeks before the fight, McGee added some drama to the showdown by declaring she was the hungrier fighter and vowing to retire if Follmar (16-2, nine KOs) beat her. McGee, though, won't have to worry about making good on her promises now.
"I took the fear that was in me, and I put it in her," McGee said. "I gave her something to think about."
In early March, Follmar, 28, came out of retirement and captured her title by defeating Eva Jones-Young, 44, of South Bend in Follmar's first official bout in four years. McGee, 22, was on a mission to prove she was a severe threat to Follmar's comeback, and she succeeded in her quest.
Follmar, however, said she's not going to give up on her career despite suffering her first loss since May 2002 and even alluded to a rematch with McGee before the fight ever took place. The suicide of Follmar's younger brother, Tommy, 23, this past September was one of the main reasons she decided to make a comeback.
"I'm not gonna state for the record whether (a rematch) is gonna happen or not," Follmar said after the Saturday's fight. "But I'm definitely feeling a little more pressure in my heart to try that again because I just don't feel like I performed as well as I could have."
McGee has endured hardships of her own. When she was 17, she lived in her car for about a month after she was kicked out of the house by her grandmother, a Jehovah's Witness whom McGee said doesn't approve of her fighting career because it promotes violence.
But McGee overcame that rough time in her life with the same determination that helped her conquer her most formidable opponent yet.
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Post by Dee Williams on Apr 26, 2009 8:52:58 GMT -5
This was a big step for Mary McGee that should allay the doubts some have had about her. Although not many of you voted in this pre-fight poll, the vote reflected a sense among my own boxing contacts that McGee stood to get her first loss in this fight, but instead it turned out well for her.
I hope the taste of title bout victory that Kristy had over the very capable Eva Jones-Young earlier in her comeback helps to keep her in the game so Indiana fans can see both of them in action again soon!
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Post by Jason Ozuma on May 16, 2009 10:11:08 GMT -5
This was a big step for Mary McGee that should allay the doubts some have had about her. Although not many of you voted in this pre-fight poll, the vote reflected a sense among my own boxing contacts that McGee stood to get her first loss in this fight, but instead it turned out well for her. I hope the taste of title bout victory that Kristy had over the very capable Eva Jones-Young earlier in her comeback helps to keep her in the game so Indiana fans can see both of them in action again soon! This fight really doesn't stop the doubts about Mary Mcgee, she fought a retired fighter not one of the top fighters in her class. Did you see this fight? The Kristy Follmar that fought Mary Mcgee isn't the same Kristy Follmar that fought Mia St John. I also heard that Mary was on the ropes the whole time.. |
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Post by Willie Edwards on May 16, 2009 13:54:54 GMT -5
I hope she fights a top-notch fighter in the near future -
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Post by Jason Ozuma on May 16, 2009 18:11:21 GMT -5
I hope she fights a top-notch fighter in the near future - I hope first that Mary Mcgee takes it seriously now more than ever because during the conference between Kristy Follmar, she Mary Mcgee stated that she would retire if she lost Mary Mcgee vs Tiffany Junot or Ana Jualton or Mary Mcgee vs Chika Nikamura would be the first step i would want to see. |
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