Christy Martin was literally the face of women’s boxing.
She was and still is the only woman boxer to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1996.
She became a world champion in 2009 and had high-profile bouts against future Hall of Famers Laila Ali and Holly Holm.
Her first marriage was to her trainer/manager Jim Martin, almost twenty years her senior.
Her second marriage was to Lisa Holewyne, the woman she defeated in her 48th pro fight.
And that ain’t the half of it.
Her marriage to Martin led to her getting hooked on coke, suffering a stroke on the operating table for surgery on a broken hand, and oh yeah, her trainer/manager/husband also stabbed and shot her – with her own gun.
Christy Martin, known as “The Coal Miner’s Daughter,” is if nothing else, a survivor.
If you think her life would make a great documentary/movie, you’re right. The Netflix biopic “Untold: Deal with the Devil,” aired in 2017.
But her book “Fighting For Survival” with Ron Borges, will be released June 22 after being officially inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (June 9-12) in Canastota, NY. She was inducted in 2020, but due to Covid, she went in with the classes of 2021 and 2022.
Of the seventeen fighters who went into the Hall, joining Martin, it’s a who’s who of champions including Roy Jones, Jr., Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley and female champs Ali, Holm, Bronxite Miriam Trimiar, and Lucia Rijker to name a few.
“I’m happy. I’m just but not professionally happy,” she says from her home in Austin, Texas, where she is the CEO of Christy Martin Promotions. She’s not sure if boxing is what she wants to be involved in long term. For now, she is a learning boxing promoter.
“I really want to find my niche where I can fit in, If you don’t have TV or a major sponsor behind you, you can’t get the better, elite fighters and it’s always going to be a struggle.
“I had the world’s greatest promoter that promoted me for my career. I learned a lot,” she proudly remarks about Don King. He put her on many of his pay-per-view cards, especially when Mike Tyson was headlining.
“Christy Martin put women’s boxing on the map,” says Tyson in the Netflix documentary.
Promoting fights these days has changed from Martin’s time as a fighter.
“It seems like everything has gone to social media and it’s about who has the most followers,” she notes. “I liked it the way DK did it. You go out there and the people could touch you, feel your energy. The people can get excited about the fight.
“Today, so much of it is fake,” she states with a chuckle. “I had some dustups in my career, but there were never any of them that were fake.”
Like the time she went at it with Laila Ali – at a press conference.
What wasn’t fake was the damage that her former husband, who’s serving a lengthy jail sentence, inflicted on her. Martin won’t be eligible for parole until 2035 when he’s 92.
When she informed Martin that he was leaving her for another woman, he lost it with the stabbing and the shooting.
After the carnage, he went to dye his hair and take a shower to wash off the blood. Martin escaped from their home and flagged down a car to take her to the hospital.
What she went through is why the book had to happen.
“I wanted to do the book for the same reason I did the Netflix documentary,” she says. “Anytime anybody gives me the opportunity to talk about domestic violence, I feel that’s why God left me here and I need to share my story and make people aware that domestic violence isn’t just about the bruises.
“So many times, it’s emotional and a psychological mental beat down. Break someone’s self-esteemed and their self-worth and it takes everything out of you.”
Martin paused a long time and exhaled.
“Jim took everything out of me,” she says. “He took it all from me and most of it was mental.
“It wasn’t really physical until it was physical in the end.”
The mega bout on April 30 between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, the two best female fighters in the world, sparked interest from Martin.
“They have a wonderful opportunity. There’s nothing more awesome than getting a fight in Madison Square Garden,” says Martin who fought in MSG twice. “All the pressure is on their shoulders if they can reignite the flame for women’s boxing. If they go out there and the fight is a war, a knock down drag out, all action fight … great for women’s boxing.”
Taylor and Serrano delivered a candidate for fight of the year.
Still, even with this fight between two of the best women fighters in the world, what comes next?
“Is it going to be one and done?” Martin asks. “Where do they go from here?”