Christy Martin emerged from a West Virginia coal town and reached the pinnacle of women’s boxing. While most witnessed her dominance inside the ring, Martin secretly faced looming threats in her personal life that almost turned deadly.
Martin’s rise to fame and its terrifying aftermath are the subject of the biographical movie Christy, premiering in theaters November 7 and starring Sydney Sweeney as the famous pugilist.
The real Martin is considered beloved pioneer of her sport, with her blue-collar background and unwavering confidence inspiring scores of fans during the 1990s and 2000s. However, the champion fighter simultaneously faced an abusive marriage that no one knew about—until it nearly cost Martin her life.
Martin had a difficult childhood and alleges she was sexually abused
Martin, born Christy Renea Salters on June 12, 1968, showed promise as an athlete from an early age. She played Little League baseball and recreational football growing up, and became an all-state basketball player at her high school in Mullens, West Virginia.
A self-described “aggressive kid” who got into schoolyard fights, as Martin told ESPN in 2020, she stayed close to her parents, John Salters—a welder at the local coal mine—and Joyce Salters, who tried to channel her passion into more productive outlets. “My dad always told me, ‘You can do anything you want to do, be anything you want to be,’” Martin recalled.
But behind her seemingly boundless energy, Martin hid personal struggles. From a young age, Martin knew she was a lesbian and began dating one of her high school teammates, Sherry Lusk, but hid the relationship from her parents, according to CBS News.
More disturbingly, Martin alleged in her 2022 memoir, Fighting for Survival, that a family friend sexually abused her when she was around age 6. She kept the incident a secret from her parents until her 40s. “My mother was very close with the abuser’s grandmother. So I’d say to myself, ‘I’ll tell my mother after his grandmother dies.’ So I just kept it to myself,” she told The Guardian.
For Martin, athletics—specifically boxing—offered an escape.
Martin became one of the first superstars of women’s boxing
Martin attended Concord College in West Virginia on a basketball scholarship, but ultimately found her niche in the ring. Around age 21, she competed in a Toughman Contest for amateur fighters and fared well. Soon after, she knocked out another opponent.
Thinking she could make money until she picked up a regular job, Martin began training with Jim Martin (played in the movie by Ben Foster) in Bristol, Tennessee. Initially, Jim—a self-proclaimed “macho guy” who didn’t believe women belonged in boxing—hated the idea and, according to ESPN, schemed to have his other pupils injure her and convince her to quit.
Instead, Christy proved a quick study and kept winning fights. “[Jim] would tell me, ‘I’m going to make you the best woman fighter ever and make myself lots of money,’” she recalled. “It was all about what I could do for him.”
Martin earned the nickname “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” a play on her family’s background and the famous Loretta Lynn song, and won 19 straight professional fights by 1994. Her success caught the eye of legendary promoter Don King, who signed Martin and scheduled the biggest match of her career.
In March 1996, Martin faced Deirdre Gogarty in Las Vegas on the undercard for Mike Tyson’s heavyweight bout with Frank Bruno. The fight, which Martin claimed by unanimous decision, is often credited with fueling the mainstream popularity of women’s boxing—paving the way for future stars such as Laila Ali and Claressa Shields. Martin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated that same year.
Martin continued boxing for more than a decade, eventually winning the WBC super welterweight championship and compiling a 49–7–3 record with 31 wins by knockout. Her last match was a loss to Mia St. John in 2012.
Unfortunately, her biggest battle was yet to unfold—one that would threaten her life.
Christy married her trainer, who attempted to kill her in 2010
Overseeing Christy’s boxing success was coach Jim Martin, who wed Christy in 1991 as a marriage of convenience. The couple remained together for almost two decades.
It was later discovered that Jim, who was 25 years her senior, was physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive throughout their relationship. According to ESPN, he controlled Christy’s friendships and often belittled her accomplishments and insulted her appearance. Eventually, he blackmailed Christy by threatening to reveal compromising photos of videos of her—and to out her as a lesbian.
Martin also said he supplied her with drugs, including cocaine, and threatened to kill her if she ever left him.
“I felt like I was protecting everybody, by just keeping everything to myself. I felt like I was protecting my family by staying in this violent marriage that I f—king hated. At first, I didn’t even realize it was domestic violence,” Christy told The Guardian.
By 2010, Christy had reconnected with her former girlfriend, Lusk, and requested a divorce from Martin. This led to a violent ambush at their Apopka, Florida, home on November 23, 2010, during which Jim shot Christy in the torso with her pink handgun and repeatedly stabbed her with a Buck Knife, leaving her to die. Despite her gruesome injuries, Christy managed to escape the house more than an hour after the attack began and was helped by a passing motorist.
Days later, police arrested Jim and charged him with attempted first-degree murder. He was ultimately convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison, where he died in November 2024.
“The crazy thing about my situation is that I was the one making all the money. Looking back at it, I should have left way before I did, and maybe it wouldn’t have ended like that. Even though I’m pretty certain it was always going to end like that,” Martin said.
Martin is a boxing promoter and public speaker
Martin, now 57, began using her maiden name Salters and worked at least two years as a full-time high school substitute teacher in Charlotte, according to a 2016 interview with Sports Illustrated.
She is now the CEO of Christy Martin Promotions, her own boxing promotion organizing matches in North Carolina, Florida, and other Southern states. Outside of the ring, Martin is a public speaker who advocates for victims of domestic violence and promotes anti-bullying and LGBTQ causes.
Martin married pro boxer Lisa Holwyne—one of her former opponents—in 2017. “Bet no one else can say their spouse punched them on their first date,” Martin previously quipped, referring to their 2001 fight in an Instagram post.
The couple are both members of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame. Martin joined as part of the inaugural seven-member class in 2014, and six years later was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Prior to Sweeney’s dramatic portrayal, Martin appeared in the 2021 Netflix documentary Untold: Deal with the Devil about her rise in the ring and harrowing survival story.
See Christy in Theaters on November 7
In order to prepare for the role, Sweeney—who grappled and trained in kickboxing as a teenager—gained 30 pounds and had a rigorous workout schedule including multiple hours of weight training.
The Euphoria star, 28, said Martin was very involved in the film’s production and often on set. Sweeney took multiple valuable lessons from their friendship.
“It taught me a lot about myself, actually, throughout the entire process,” Sweeney said during a panel discussion. “She taught me how to stand up for myself more and feel stronger in my personal life, my work life. We both fight our own fights in different types of rings and, yeah, check in on your friends and make sure they’re all okay.”
Sweeney takes the ring as the boxing legend in Christy, releasing in theaters November 7. The movie also stars Ben Foster as Jim Martin, Katy O’Brian as Lisa Holwyne, and Merritt Wever and Ethan Embry as Joyce and John Salters.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
