Former women’s WBC Light Welterweight Champion Christy Martin will be making her comeback this Saturday, June 4th on the undercard of Sebastian Zbik vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” is not coming back from a loss or a long lay-off, however. Instead, the 42 year old West Virginia native is coming back from a vicious attack by her own husband.
More than any other fighter, Christy Martin made women’s boxing in the 1990s. Her brutal, hard-fisted puncher’s style made Martin easy to watch, and her fights were placed prominently on many of Don King’s cable-televised fight cards during that decade. Although she avoided her arch-rival Lucia Rijker, Martin did square off with and defeat Andre DeShong, Washington, DC’s Isra Girgrah, Deidre Gogharty and former playmate Mia St. John. She also lost a high profile match with a much larger and younger Lalia Ali, the woman who supplanted Martin as the number one face in women’s boxing. In December 2010, Martin informed her husband, 67 year old James Martin, that she was leaving him for another woman, and he allegedly responded by stabbing, clubbing and shooting her. James Martin is currently in jail and awating trial.
Christy’s opponent on Saturday will be Dakota Stone, a 5’10” 9-8-5 fighter who Christy fought in 2009 for the vacant WBC Light Middleweight Title. Martin broke her right hand in the first bout, and barely managed to pull out a Majority Decision. She clearly hopes to do better in the rematch and earn her 50th victory.
