HAMMOND | 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.

In the two bouts leading up to the main event, Hobart resident Ed Ochoa (8-0, eight KOs) knocked Chris Hill out 2:10 into the first round, and Merrillville resident Orphius Waite (5-0, three KOs) defeated Cedric Johnson by a unanimous decision.