From DiBella Entertainment:
DIBELLA ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS NEWLY CROWNED IBF WORLD FEMALE JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION “MERCILESS” MARY MCGEE
MCGEE MAKES FIRST IBF TITLE DEFENSE ON FEBRUARY 8 VERSUS DEANHA HOBBS IN HAMMOND, IN
New York, NY (December 20, 2019) DiBella Entertainment (DBE) has signed newly crowned IBF World Female Junior Welterweight Champion “Merciless” Mary McGee (26-3, 14 KOs), of Gary, IN, to an exclusive promotional contract. McGee joins the strongest group of female boxing talent under any promotional banner.
The 33-year-old McGee won the vacant world title on Thursday, December 5, with a 10th-round knockout of Ana Laura Esteche in a featured bout on DBE’s Broadway Boxing Annual Holiday Event at Terminal 5 in Manhattan and live on UFC FIGHT PASS®, the world’s leading digital subscription service for combat sports. After dropping former unified world champion Esteche in round eight, McGee finished her off with a barrage of power punches 30 seconds into the 10th and final frame, becoming the first to stop her Argentinean foe.
McGee will make her first title defense on Saturday, February 8, 2020, against Deanha “Silencer” Hobbs at the Hammond Civic Center, in Hammond, IN. Hobbs (8-1, 5 KOs), of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is a former WBO Asia Pacific Super Featherweight titlist and Australian Super Lightweight and Super Welterweight titlist. Her lone loss came to Christina Linardatou, challenging for the WBO Super Lightweight world championship.
“I am beyond excited to be promoted by Lou. He’s a loving, caring and understanding man. In this day and age, that is extremely rare,” said McGee. “I am grateful that all my hard work over the years has finally been recognized by a promoter of his magnitude and I’m excited to see what lies ahead.”
Continued McGee manager Brian Cohen, “Lou DiBella is a visionary. He was promoting women’s boxing before it was the cool thing to do. He understands the sport and, when you speak to him, he doesn’t just know one or two female boxers, he knows them all. I couldn’t ask for a better promoter to work with than Lou DiBella.”
“Mary McGee is a talented boxer who has perseverance and realized her dream of winning a world title. She is also a dedicated single mom, fighting for a better life for her son. I look forward to working with her and manager Brian Cohen to keep Mary active and to secure lucrative matchups in the future,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. “Her first defense of her IBF title, on February 8, versus Australia’s Deanha Hobbs, will begin what promises to be a big 2020 for Mary.”
Included among the female fighters in the DBE stable are seven-division world champion and current WBO Featherweight World Champion Amanda Serrano, WBA Super Middleweight World Champion Alicia Napoleon-Espinosa, WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Hanna Gabriels, Interim WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Raquel Miller, former Featherweight World Champion Heather Hardy, former Junior Welterweight World Champion Christina Linardatou, world title challengers Abril Vidal and Shelly Vincent, and featherweight contender Tiara Brown.