Inside the Harrowing True Story of Sydney Sweeney’s Boxing Film, ‘Christy’

Christy Martin is a former professional boxer who helped make female boxing what it is today.

She was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia and started to pursue boxing in college. Her career took off in the 1990s when she began coaching with James “Jim” Martin, whom she married in 1991.

As she got older and stronger, Christy beat several intense competitors and went on to become one of the most successful boxers with 49 wins. However, in the midst of her historic career, she started to face personal challenges when her husband became emotionally, financially and physically abusive.

In 2010, Christy, who had previously been in a relationship with a woman, told Jim that she wanted a divorce after reconnecting with her high school girlfriend. He subsequently stabbed her several times and shot her, but she survived.

Despite the attempt on her life, Christy continued boxing and competed in a few matches before retiring in 2012. She was later the first female athlete inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016 and was one of the first women to be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame four years later.

Christy’s historic career and harrowing life story take center stage in the biopic Christy, which hits theaters on Nov. 7. Sydney Sweeney portrayed Christy, and the two developed a tight-knit bond throughout the making of the movie and its release.

“She kind of became my best friend. Having her with us was a really powerful experience,” Sweeney said of Christy at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October 2025.

Here’s everything to know about legendary boxer Christy Martin and her real story being told in the film Christy.

Christy grew up in a coal mining family in West Virginia

Christy was born in 1968 in Mullens, W.V., to parents Joyce and John Salters. The couple later welcomed son Randy Salters.

Throughout Christy’s childhood, her dad worked as a coal miner, and her brother later followed in his footsteps. Christy was later given the boxing nickname, “The Coal Miner’s Daughter,” because of her family’s background, per The Smithsonian.

Christy attended Mullens High School, played several sports and eventually got a basketball scholarship to Concord College, per her International Boxing Hall of Fame bio. When she was still in college, Christy began boxing on a dare and turned pro in 1989.

Christy became one of the most successful female boxers in the 1990s

When Christy was 21 years old, she began boxing professionally. Her first match was against Angela Buchanan in 1989, and although it ended in a draw, Christy beat her just one month later. She went on to win 19 consecutive times, including against Suzanne Riccio-Major and Beverly Szymansky.

Toward the beginning of her career, she hired Jim as her coach and manager. The two continued working together after tying the knot in 1991. In addition, famed promoter Don King signed her as his first female client in 1993.

Although Christy had seen success for nearly a decade, she rose to national prominence in 1996 when she beat Deirdre Gogarty in a match that was broadcast ahead of a Mike Tyson Heavyweight Championship.

The fight launched her into the spotlight, and she became the first female boxer to cover Sports Illustrated a month after her milestone win. The subsequent press attention helped make her the face of women’s boxing and also highlighted the sport on a national level for the first time.

By the end of her professional career, Christy won the WBC super welterweight title in 2009 and later had a record of 49-7-3, including 31 knockouts.

However, despite her boxing successes, Christy was dealing with significant problems at home with Jim, who was 25 years older than her. Christy later said that she felt trapped in her marriage and said that Jim physically, emotionally, sexually and financially abused her.

“Jim told me for 20 years that he would kill me if I ever left him. Twenty years,” she told The Guardian in 2022. “At the beginning, I was young, 22, 23 years old, and I would kind of laugh it off.”

She further said that Jim was her “drug supplier” and that he got her addicted to cocaine.

“I was never without cocaine. Once he started giving it to me, I was never without it. And he would control it,” she continued. “He would withhold it. He’d say, ‘OK, this is what you have to do if you want another line.’ The whole thing just, I don’t even know how I let myself get to that point, honestly. How did I get to losing all control?”

Jim attempted to kill her in 2010

Just one year after winning the WBC super welterweight title, Christy had to fight for her life. After nearly two decades of abuse, Christy told Jim that she wanted a divorce. In November 2010, Christy also informed him that she had reconnected with her high school girlfriend, Sherry Lusk.

Although Jim had been abusing and threatening Christy for decades, she felt that this time was different.

“That day, I absolutely knew that he was going to kill me,” she said to The Guardian. “I went around town before it happened. I saw my hairdresser. I saw some close friends before I went back home because I was certain he was going to do it. I knew. That’s f—– up, isn’t it?”

On Nov. 23, Jim stabbed Christy several times and shot her in the chest before leaving her in their home, per Reuters. Christy was bleeding out before she miraculously stood up, walked outside and got the attention of a car passing by. She was physically recovered a month later but has struggled with the trauma ever since.

“I don’t have the coping skills for it,” she explained to The Guardian. “So what I do is talk to groups of people. I go to prisons. I go to schools. I go to domestic violence shelters, I go to galas. Any place where I can go and talk about domestic violence, I try to. I’m not completely healed, but if I can help somebody else, it helps me. I’m doing my job. I’m doing what God left me here for.”

One week after the attack, Jim was arrested for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated battery in April 2012 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He died in November 2024 while serving his time at Graceville Correctional Facility in Jackson County, Fla.

She retired in 2012 and was later inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

After physically healing from her near-death experience, Christy competed in two more matches. She lost against Dakota Stone in June 2011 and later Mia St. John in August 2012.

Christy officially retired from professional boxing in 2012. By the end of her career, she had earned a total of 49 wins.

Her historic career was symbolized when she was one of the first people inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014. Two years later, she broke another record when she became the first woman inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.

In 2020, the International Boxing Hall of Fame started including female boxers for the first time, and Christy was among the first group to be inducted. During her acceptance speech, Christy said that she was “very honored to be that sister to all these legends.”

Christy founded Christy Martin Promotions in 2016

After retiring, Christy pursued various careers before deciding to launch her own company, Christy Martin Promotions, in 2016. Since its inception, the company has “proven to be a driving force behind a multitude of captivating boxing events held in prominent locations,” per the company website.

In addition to curating several promotions, Christy has also signed a slew of boxers over the years and has taken them across the country to compete in various events.

“There’s been so much turbulence my entire life,” she said of her more stable career to ESPN in 2020. “I just want it to be smooth.”

Christy married former rival Lisa Holewyne in 2017

Although she rekindled her relationship with her high school girlfriend in 2010, their relationship fizzled when Christy realized that she was more in love with the idea of her newly embraced sexuality than with Lusk.

“I used to think I loved Sherry,” she told ESPN. “But I didn’t. Not really. I was in love with how I felt being me.”

Christy met her future wife, Lisa Holewyne, in 2001 when they competed against each other in a boxing match. Years later, they reconnected and proposed to each other in a hotel parking lot in 2017. They tied the knot later that year.

“So we met and then we sparred a couple of times, and she was sort of in my circle of people, one of the adjacent friends,” Christy explained to The Guardian. “And a few months after everything happened, and the trial with Jim, she started to call and check on me. And then she came to one of my fights that I was promoting in Charlotte and we’ve been together since.”

She has fully supported Sydney Sweeney portraying her in Christy

In October 2024, Sweeney announced that she was portraying the iconic boxer in the biopic, Christy. Shortly afterwards, Christy also shared the news and wrote on Instagram that she was “beyond excited and grateful” that the actress would depict “the battles I faced both inside and outside the ring.”

“Her talent, passion, and dedication to her craft are unmatched, and I couldn’t ask for a more amazing artist to portray me,” Martin wrote in October 2024. “It’s incredible to see how she embodies not just the fighter in me, but the woman who overcame it all. Sydney, thank you for diving deep into my journey—can’t wait for the world to see this!”

Sweeney, who also produced the film, described her and Christy’s close bond and thanked her for working with her both on and off set.

“I’ve never had the person who I’m portraying watch me. You’re never really sure what they’re thinking,” Sweeney said in October 2025. “But as it went on, I just wanted her there the entire time because I was able to study her and listen to her and have her thoughts and opinions there whenever I needed.”

She continued, “I try to lose myself completely for a role, so I try not to carry any of my own stuff into their life. But I honestly learned so much from Christy that I applied to myself.”

Christy hit theaters on Nov. 7.