Early life

Martin was born in Mullens, West Virginia with the name Christy Salters.

She played various sports as a child including Little League baseball and all-state basketball. She attended Concord College in Athens, West Virginia on a basketball scholarship and earned a B.S. in education.

Career

Martin is said to be “the most successful and prominent female boxer in the United States” and the person who “legitimized” women’s participation in the sport of boxing. She began her career fighting in “Toughwoman” contests and won three consecutive titles. She then began training with boxing coach, Jim Martin, who became her husband in 1991. On Tuesday, November 23, 2010, Martin was shot and stabbed by her husband.

Martin started her professional boxing career at the age of 21 with a six round loss to Angela Buchanan in 1989. She had her first training under the direction of Charlie Sensabaugh of Daniels West Virginia. Martin won the rematch one month later with a second round knockout. Andrea DeShong then beat Martin in a five round decision. Martin then had nineteen consecutive wins, including two against Jamie Whitcomb and Suzanne Riccio-Major as well a rubber match win against Buchanan. On October 15, 1993 Martin had her first title fight against Beverly Szymansky, for the WBC women's Jr. Welterweight world championship. Martin won by knocking out Szymansky in three rounds. In her first title defense, she fought to a draw against debutant Laura Serrano in Las Vegas.

Martin defended her title six more times, including a rematch with Szymansky, a fourth fight with Buchanan and defenses versus Melinda Robinson and Sue Chase, winning all of them, before the fight that many credit for putting women's boxing on the sports fans' radar took place: On March 16, 1996, she and Deirdre Gogarty fought what many consider a great fight, in front of Showtime cameras. Martin got the decision, and after that bout, she began to gain more celebrity, even appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated once shortly afterwards.

Martin won her next eight bouts including wins against Robinson, DeShong, Marcela Acuña and Isra Girgrah. Martin lost her title in a 10 round decision loss to Sumya Anani in 1998. Martin then won her next nine fights including wins against Belinda Laracuente, Sabrina Hall and Kathy Collins. Martin won her next two fights by ten round decisions against Lisa Holeywine and Mia St. John.

In 2003 Martin fought Laila Ali and lost by a knockout in the fourth round.

Martin's next fight in 2005 was a second round knockout against Lana Alexander in Lulu, Mississippi.

In 2005 a fight with Lucia Rijker, entitled "Million Dollar Lady", was canceled because Rijker ruptured her Achilles during training.

On September 16, 2005, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Martin lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Holly Holm. Martin was beaten by the 23-year-old southpaw, with all three judges scoring for Holm.

Martin holds a record of 49 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws with 31 wins by knockout. She is a frequent visitor of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame annual induction ceremonies, and an avid autograph signer. She has fought on the undercard of boxers Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Félix Trinidad and Julio César Chávez.

Martin was promoted by Don King. She was nicknamed The Coal Miner's Daughter in reference to her father's occupation.

Martin announced on January 19, 2011 that she would be fighting again in hopes of her 50th career win on the undercard of the Ricardo Mayorga vs Miguel Cotto Fight at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 12, 2011 against Dakota Stone in a rematch of their 2009 Fight. The fight was postponed due to a rib injury to Christy Martin. The rescheduled rematch took place June 4, 2011 at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the Julio Ceasr Chavez Jr. vs Sebastian Zbik undercard. Dakota Stone prevailed by TKO with :51 left as Martin broke her right hand in 9 places on a punch in the 4th round and could not continue.

In 2016 she became the first female boxer inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.

Professional boxing record

49 Wins (31 knockouts, 18 decisions), 7 Losses (2 knockouts, 5 decisions), 3 Draws
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	49-7-3	Mia St. John	Unanimous decision	10	August 14, 2012	Friant, CA, USA
Loss	49-6-3	Dakota Stone	TKO Loss (6)	6	June 4, 2011	Los Angeles, CA, USA
Win	49-5-3	Dakota Stone	Majority decision	10	September 9, 2009	Syracuse, New York, USA
Win	48-5-3	Cimberly Harris	Split decision	6	August 1, 2009	Huntington, West Virginia, USA
Draw	47-5-3	Valerie Mahfood	Draw	8	July 18, 2008	Houston, Texas, USA
Win	47-5-2	Amy Yuratovac	Unanimous decision	2	June 2, 2007	Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
Loss	46-5-2	Angelica Martinez	Split decision	10	October 6, 2006	Worley, Idaho, USA
Loss	46-4-2	Holly Holm	Unanimous decision	10	September 16, 2005	Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Win	46-3-2	Lana Alexander	KO	2	April 30, 2005	Lula, Mississippi, USA
Loss	45-3-2	Laila Ali	KO	4, 0:28	August 23, 2003	Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
Win	45-2-2	Mia St. John	Unanimous decision	10	December 6, 2002	Pontiac, Michigan, USA
Win	44-2-2	Lisa Holewyne	Unanimous decision	10	November 17, 2001	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	43-2-2	Kathy Collins	Majority decision	10	May 12, 2001	New York City, New York, USA
Win	42-2-2	Jeanne Martinez	Unanimous decision	10	March 3, 2001	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	41-2-2	Sabrina Hall	KO	1	December 2, 2000	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	40-2-2	Dianna Lewis	Unanimous decision	10	August 12, 2000	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	39-2-2	Belinda Laracuente	Majority decision	8	March 3, 2000	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	38-2-2	Daniella Somers	TKO	5, 1:37	October 2, 1999	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	37-2-2	Jovette Jackson	TKO	1	April 24, 1999	Washington, D.C., USA
Loss	36-2-2	Sumya Anani	Majority decision	10	December 18, 1998	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Win	36-1-2	Christine Robinson	TKO	5	September 19, 1998	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Win	35-1-2	Cheryl Nance	TKO	9, 0:41	August 29, 1998	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	34-1-2	Marcela Acuña	Unanimous decision	10	December 5, 1997	Pompano Beach, Florida, USA
Win	33-1-2	Isra Girgrah	Unanimous decision	8	August 23, 1997	New York City, New York, USA
Win	32-1-2	Andrea DeShong	TKO	7, 1:43	June 28, 1997	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	31-1-2	Bethany Payne	TKO	1, 2:59	November 9, 1996	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	30-1-2	Melinda Robinson	KO	4	September 7, 1996	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	29-1-2	Deirdre Gogarty	Unanimous decision	6	March 16, 1996	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	28-1-2	Del Pettis	TKO	1	February 24, 1996	Richmond, Virginia, USA
Win	27-1-2	Sue Chase	TKO	3, 0:27	February 10, 1996	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	26-1-2	Melinda Robinson	Unanimous decision	6	January 13, 1996	Miami, Florida, USA
Win	25-1-2	Erica Schmidlin	TKO	1	December 16, 1995	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Win	24-1-2	Angela Buchanan	TKO	2	August 12, 1995	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	23-1-2	Beverly Szymanski	KO	4	April 1, 1995	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	22-1-2	Chris Kreuz	TKO	4	September 12, 1994	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Draw	21-1-2	Laura Serrano	Draw	6	May 7, 1994	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	21-1-1	Sonja Donlevy	TKO	1	March 4, 1994	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	20-1-1	Susie Melton	TKO	1, 0:40	January 29, 1994	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Win	19-1-1	Beverly Szymanski	KO	3	October 15, 1993	Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA
Win	18-1-1	Rebecca Kirkland	TKO	1	August 27, 1993	Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
Win	17-1-1	Deborah Cruickshank	KO	1	May 28, 1993	Punta Gorda, Florida, USA
Win	16-1-1	Susie Hughes	TKO	1	January 29, 1993	Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Win	15-1-1	Angela Buchanan	TKO	1	November 14, 1992	Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Win	14-1-1	Tracy Gordon	TKO	1	September 5, 1992	Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
Win	13-1-1	Stacey Prestage	Decision	8	May 30, 1992	Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
Win	12-1-1	Jackie Thomas	TKO	3	January 25, 1992	Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
Win	11-1-1	Rose Noble	TKO	1	January 11, 1992	Grundy, Virginia, USA
Win	10-1-1	Shannon Davenport	TKO	2	September 10, 1991	Princeton, West Virginia, USA
Win	9-1-1	Rhonda Hefflin	KO	1	May 25, 1991	Tennessee, USA
Win	8-1-1	Pat Watts	TKO	1	March 16, 1991	Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
Win	7-1-1	Suzanne Riccio	Decision	5	February 25, 1991	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Win	6-1-1	Jamie Whitcomb	Unanimous decision	5	January 12, 1991	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Win	5-1-1	Lisa Holpp	TKO	1	October 27, 1990	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Win	4-1-1	Jamie Whitcomb	Decision	6	September 22, 1990	Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
Win	3-1-1	Andrea DeShong	Decision	5	April 21, 1990	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Loss	2-1-1	Andrea DeShong	Decision	5	November 4, 1989	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Win	2-0-1	Tammy Jones	TKO	1	October 21, 1989	Bristol, Tennessee, USA
Win	1-0-1	Angela Buchanan	KO	2	September 30, 1989	Durham, North Carolina, USA
Draw	0-0-1	Angela Buchanan	Draw	5	September 9, 1989	Bristol, Tennessee, USA

Attempted murder

On November 23, 2010, Christy Martin was stabbed several times and shot at least once in her torso and left leg by her husband, 66-year-old James V. Martin. The attack reportedly occurred after an argument in their Apopka home. She survived the attack. On November 30, James Martin was arrested and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center after he stabbed himself. He was booked in Orange County Jail and charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

In April, 2012, James Martin was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced two months later to 25 years in prison.

Personal life

Christy now resides with her partner Sherry Lusk and is continuing to train.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]