CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) \u2014 Right now, we have a visitor in Tennessee who truly made history in women’s sports. Christy Martin’s life story is so compelling, it’s being told in a film starring one of today’s most famous actresses. Christy talked to us about the Saturday night event that’s brought her to our city.<\/p>\n
“It’s just like normal,” Christy said, sitting in the middle of the noise of a boxing gym. <\/p>\n
She spoke while cradling her dog, Champ.<\/p>\n
Christy’s from West Virginia, but this visit to Tennessee is still a bit of revisiting her roots.<\/p>\n
“I started my professional career in Bristol, Tennessee,” Christy said. “1989.”<\/p>\n
Christy said those early days were tough for women in boxing.<\/p>\n
“All kinds of negativity, promoters didn’t want to put females on their shows,” she continued. “No one was really giving any support.”<\/p>\n
However, Christy’s fights were commanding attention.<\/p>\n
“One day in the early 90s, I get a call from Don King’s office,” she remembered. “‘Hey. DK will see you.’ The rest is truly history.”<\/p>\n
That history includes a 1996 cover of Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n
“The only female boxer to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated,” Christy said. “No one before then, no one since then.”<\/p>\n
In her career, Christy was known as the Coal Miner’s Daughter. It was the same name as one of Christy’s heroes.<\/p>\n
“When I was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Loretta Lynn did a video congratulating me,” Christy said. “No one could understand, I’m going to cry now, what that meant to a coal miner’s daughter.”<\/p>\n
In 2010, then-husband Jim Martin was charged with the attempted murder of Christy. She’d been repeatedly stabbed, and she’d been shot. Jim Martin was later convicted of attempted second degree murder.<\/p>\n
After all of that, the ring was still home.<\/p>\n
“Just six months after I was shot and stabbed, I was in the ring,” Christy said.<\/p>\n
Today, Christy promotes events all over the country.<\/p>\n
“My company is Christy Martin Promotions,” she said.<\/p>\n
Her next is the night of Saturday, August 2nd at the Nashville Fairgrounds. It’s called Mayhem in Music City II.<\/p>\n
Christy joined several boxers competing at the event as they trained at American Pride Boxing Academy in Clarksville.<\/p>\n
“They’re gonna rock the house!” Christy said. “It’s gonna be a great night of boxing.”<\/p>\n
Christy’s also giving a different opportunity to Vivienne Vazquez.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to Clarksville High School, and I’m a junior,” Vivienne said.<\/p>\n
She’s been singing the national anthem at Christy’s events.<\/p>\n
“Just being able to sing for people is my biggest dream,” Vivienne continued.<\/p>\n
A film will be released soon called Christy. It tells Christy’s life story, and she’s played by actress Sydney Sweeney.<\/p>\n
“It’s a bit overwhelming, but she kicks butt!” Christy said of the performance. “She did a great job, and I can’t wait for other people to see this film.”<\/p>\n
Christy’s story being shared in such a big way is something Vivienne’s happy to see.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s amazing cause she not only overcame everything, but she’s able to tell her story about it,” Vivienne said.<\/p>\n
“I made it to the top of the boxing world,” Christy continued. “No other woman had ever done that before. I got up off the floor after being shot and stabbed and left for dead. People will hopefully draw nothing but strength. If she can do it, I can do it.”<\/p>\n
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) \u2014 Right now, we have a visitor in Tennessee who truly made history in women’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-35642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}