\u201cChristy\u201d stars Sydney Sweeney in the lead role and Ben Foster as, basically, the bad guy. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in early September and comes to U.S. theaters in early November.<\/p>\n
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Christy Martin joined Sydney Sweeney at the Toronto Film Festival last month for the premiere of “Christy.”<\/p>\n
Martin put women\u2019s boxing in the 1990s sporting spotlight, but back in the shadows, there was little glamor for the West Virginia native who was \u2014 literally \u2014 a coal miner\u2019s daughter. Too often, Hollywood takes a worthy real-life tale and comes too close to fictionalizing it. This time, the novelists could take the day off.<\/p>\n
The basics:<\/p>\n
\u220e Victories in \u201cTough Woman\u201d bouts led Martin to the ring and a formal boxing career.<\/p>\n
\u220e Her boxing career and life would mature under the tutelage (and control) of Jim Martin, a man 24 years her senior, who would also become her husband as she took an extreme leap to mask her sexual identity.<\/p>\n
\u220e She was the first woman boxer to sign with the most famous (and\/or infamous) promoter of all time, Don King.<\/p>\n
\u220e Christy and Jim Martin had settled in Central Florida \u2014 Apopka \u2014 in the mid-1990s, and as the relationship began officially unraveling, Jim told Christy he would kill her if she ever left him. In late 2010 in their Apopka home, some time after she told him they were indeed done, he damn near kept his word. She survived both a stabbing and gunshot. Jim spent the rest of his life in prison.<\/p>\n
\u220e Her career record was 49-7-3. One of the 49 boxers she defeated was Lisa Holewyne in 2001, who over a decade later would become Martin\u2019s wife (and still is).<\/p>\n
\u220e She was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, the first year women boxers were eligible to enter the Hall.<\/p>\n
![\"Christy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6a27320ab77919c089047cf15afbb9cf.jpeg\"\/)
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Christy Martin following a victory in 2000, flanked by husband\/trainer Jim Martin (left) and promoter Don King.<\/p>\n
Martin, who spent the past several years in Austin, Texas, recently returned to Apopka, living not far from where she once nearly died. While now promoting fighters and fight cards, she\u2019s also planning to open a training facility in Deltona sometime next spring on 16 acres.<\/p>\n
She covered a lot of ground about her return to Florida, the movie, and how she hopes the story will help others in a recent phone interview with the USA Today Network-Florida.<\/p>\n
Christy Martin returned to Central Florida after time in Texas<\/p>\n
USA Today Network: Why did you return to Florida?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cI wanted to come back. Jim died in November of last year, so I think coming back to Apopka was easier, because I know he\u2019s dead. I don\u2019t know why that makes it easier; it\u2019s just mental, you know. I\u2019m very glad to be back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did Texas as long as I could. I didn\u2019t like it. Not even a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too crowded in Austin, or was it something else?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cI’m from West Virginia and that\u2019s who I am. People are friendly there. And my little town in Apopka, the people who live there, they\u2019re personable. I was in Austin for six or seven years and it just wasn\u2019t my cup of tea.<\/p>\n
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Christy Martin maintaining the championship belt after a 1996 win by decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad to be back in Central Florida. Also, we bought 16 acres in Deltona and we\u2019re gonna build a training center. We hope to open in the first quarter of 2026. We\u2019ll train pro fighters, amateur fighters, we\u2019ll have domestic abuse programs, a \u2018Punching 4 Parkinson\u2019s\u2019 program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoxing will be the reason for the facility, but in my heart, it\u2019ll also be the other things. I just want to make a difference in this world before I go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your daily routine these days?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cI’m working on sponsors for equipment and sponsors in general for the training center. Still promoting fighters, still doing fight promotions. Gonna do a black-tie event in February in Altamonte Springs for domestic-violence awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christy Martin biopic comes out in November<\/p>\n
How did the movie come about?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cWe did a book (\u201cFighting for Survival,\u201d written with Ron Borges). There was the Netflix documentary (\u201cDeal With the Devil\u201d), and that\u2019s probably what kicked this off. I\u2019d say that\u2019s what got the movie started.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Sydney Sweeney came on board, and when she came on board, it really started to come together quickly. It was almost a year ago when we started shooting \u2014 in October and November.\u201d<\/p>\n
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TORONTO, ONTARIO – SEPTEMBER 05: Sydney Sweeney and Christy Martin attend the “Christy” premiere party hosted by World Class Canada and Audi at Vinny during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 05, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Sonia Recchia\/Getty Images for World Class Canada)<\/p>\n
How was the Red Carpet treatment at the Toronto premiere?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to stand beside Don King or Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand or the Garden. I feel like I\u2019m in my wheelhouse there, in my area. Then to be standing next to Sydney Sweeney, next to Ben Foster \u2026 I felt a little out of place, like, \u2018How do I fit into this group?’<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s a lot like a big boxing event. Because, you know, it\u2019s a lot of bullshit, if I can say that. It\u2019s a lot of flash, a lot of smoke and mirrors. Same kind of people, they just do different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gotta say it had to be kind of flattering to have Sydney Sweeney playing you in a movie.<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cI was a little bit like, \u2018wow.\u2019 It was pretty shocking that she was going to take on this role. People are going to be so shocked when they see this Sydney Sweeney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sydney Sweeney plays Christy Martin in new movie<\/p>\n
What was your take on the weird controversy this past summer over her jeans ad for American Eagle?<\/p>\n
![\"Christy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/81bc38b8bf3ab5cafa025e28cd2a1964.jpeg\"\/)
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Christy Martin rides along with Sydney Sweeney, who served as Grand Marshal at the Parade of Champions in Canastota, N.Y. this past June. The parade preceded the annual induction ceremony at the International Boxing Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cProbably the greatest thing about that time, I was moving from Texas to Florida. I was just overwhelmed with the move. I didn\u2019t even know it was going on. I don\u2019t know and \u2026 I don\u2019t have anything to say about it. I think it\u2019s ridiculous. I just think that people with too much time on their hands try to find some fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
What about Sydney’s boxing technique? Did you help at all?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cIt was great. I got to go to the gym with them a couple times. I tried to help some. I’d say, \u2018Sydney, you need to twist a little more on the hook.\u2019 The fight scenes are really good. And she had me down. She really had me down.\u201d<\/p>\n
How odd was it watching someone pretend to be you?<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cIt\u2019s way weird. I would be in the back watching them film scenes, and I\u2019m cheering her. After the scene, I\u2019d run up there, slapping high-fives with her. Then, sometimes I\u2019d see her doing other things I did, and I\u2019m cringing a little bit.<\/p>\n
![\"Christy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4f426e040097c823c6abab556c7c68c1.jpeg\"\/)
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Christy Martin (right) defeated Lisa Holewyne in a 2001 bout, some 16 years before the two former boxers were married.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was good. It\u2019s a good movie. It\u2019s gonna touch a lot of different groups of people \u2014 from domestic violence, sexuality, the underdog story of a coal miner\u2019s daughter from a small town in West Virginia \u2026 who kinda made it. I hope it gives other people a path out or a path up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Were you on the set for the bad scenes?<\/p>\n
Martin: “No. I had other things happening that I had to be at, so I wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
How was it watching those scenes in the finished movie product?<\/p>\n
Martin: (Long pause \u2026) \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit heavy to see those things and hear the words. That\u2019s gonna be the things that make the mother, make the father, who maybe know their child is in a situation like this \u2026. or a neighbor that needs to help their friend out \u2026 they need to do it today, don\u2019t wait until tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes \u2026 you know … I watched the movie and I thought, \u2018wow.\u2019 Then I had to remind myself, \u2018this is about you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
So there’s obviously a big-picture significance to it all.<\/p>\n
Martin: \u201cThere are so many people out there that really are reaching for help. You just have to be more aware of when someone is reaching for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure we get those clues, because it\u2019s hard to ask someone. You don\u2019t really know who to trust. Sometimes you have to just drop a little hint, and other people have to be able to pick up on those little clues.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com<\/p>\n