By John Gabriel Thompson: Just a little over six months ago, Christy Martin was in the fight of her life. She was down with little chance of ever getting up. But she beat the most important count of her life and made it to her feet. She wasn’t getting up to continue boxing – she was getting up to find help to take her to the hospital. She had been beaten and worse, but not in the ring. Allegedly, she had told her long time controlling husband that she was leaving him for a woman. He proceeded to beat her viciously, stab her repeatedly, and then shoot her in the chest. Despite it all, one of the most well-known female boxers of all times, Martin (49-6-3, 31 KO’s) stepped into the ring against rival Dakota Stone (10-8-5, 1 KO) in a non televised bout from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on the undercard of Chavez, Jr. vs. Zbik championship bout.
According to reports, it was a great fight with both women trading haymakers. Martin was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards, having dropped Stone in the fourth, when in the sixth round she reacted badly after landing a right. Martin had injured the hand in the fourth, and the ringside physician stopped the match in the sixth after she indicated that she was in tremendous pain. It turned out that Martin’s right hand was broken. It seems a shame that someone who fought for her life through much more severe injuries was robbed of a victory in this manner.
After being beaten and stabbed by her husband Martin said, “I think he was just waiting to see if I was going to die. Finally he came back in, stood at my feet, pointed the gun at me and shot me; missed my heart by four inches. The crazy thing is the bullet went through the same hole as the stab wound in my breast.” Martin had been shot her with her own gun – a pink Glock – after being stabbed several times. Aside from the stab wounds in her side and chest, her calf muscle had almost been cut off completely, making her ring return that much more astounding.
Martin earned the nickname “The Coalminer’s Daughter” having been born in West Virginia, though she now resides in Florida. In her long career, she’s fought all the names in women’s boxing, including Laila Ali back in 2003. Martin’s last match was a majority decision victory against Stone in 2009 for the vacant WBC female light middleweight title. Perhaps the two will engage in a rubber match.