CHRISTY SALTERS MARTIN in EPISODE 2: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
There are boxers, and there is Christy Martin, or as she goes in her personal life, Salters Martin.
The West Virginia-born champion exploded onto the athletic scene in 1996 when, after years of boxing in small venues, she landed a duel spot with Deidre Gogerty as a sideshow ahead of a sold-out fight against Mike Tyson. in Las Vegas. The match, televised on Showtime, broadcast to an estimated 80 million people, became the topic of conversation in the sports world, and Salters Martin became the first famous boxer in history. Now she’s telling her story in Untold: Deal with the Devil on Netflix starting August 17th.
Yet for all his fame – not to mention a staggering record, winning 49 out of 59 fights – Martin had a dark personal life. Originally, she married her trainer, Jim Martin, to distract fans from the truth: Salters Martin is a lesbian. Nonetheless, Salters Martin endured the loveless and abusive marriage for years in the name of protecting his career. Those years of pain also led to drug addiction. A chance reconnection with his high school girlfriend, Sherry Lusk, opened the floodgates; Salters Martin refused to live a lie any longer. She succeeded in stopping her drug addiction and prepared to leave Jim Martin. Jim, however, refused to let go. He stabbed Christy several times, shot her and left her for dead. Still the fighter, Christy survived and escaped. Today Jim Martin is serving a 25-year prison sentence. Salters Martin, meanwhile, went out publicly, married his former competitor Lisa Holwyne and became an advocate for victims of domestic violence.
We caught up with the sports legend just before the premiere of Untold: Deal with the Devil to talk about his career, coming out, and the power of self-acceptance. Untold: Deal with the Devil streams on Netflix August 17th.
So what an amazing story, first of all. You say it all here. How intimidated were you when the opportunity presented itself?
You know, if I don’t say it – the truth – then I don’t think people can really understand and grasp how crazy things have been during these 20 years of marriage with a narcissistic and abusive jerk. And that’s cool. So I hope that by being so open, people will find things that touch their lives, that will trigger the Hey, I have to get out. The problem too, being in this situation, you do not know who to contact. Many times if it’s your significant other [that is doing the abusing], you have the same friends. It’s like, who am I going to? And if you go to your family, you have to remember that if you turn your mother on him, it always will be. In the end, I finally reached out to my mom, but so much happened. And she didn’t understand.
JIM MARTIN in EPISODE 2: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Did you always know Jim would participate?
I do not have. I had no idea Jim would be a part of it, but as we went along and I became very comfortable with director Laura Brownson. I think she was very fair with her portrayal of everyone in the documentary. Looking at him, I felt that people were telling the truth, talking from the heart, talking about their own memory… except Jim. I just shake my head. 10 years in prison and he’s still the same arrogant he was back then? It was probably the hardest part of the documentary – just hearing his voice and seeing that smug look on his face. This is going to affect me more than anyone. Even though it has an effect on you, it has a much deeper effect on me.
I can not imagine. It speaks of your bravery. I feel like I learned so much about boxing from your story. This is throbbing to look at you… it’s like a typhoon in the ring. Do you think this is his own kind of performance? In other words, it’s not enough to fight, you have to put on an entertaining and interesting one?
Well, being the first woman to ever have really big exposure and a big promoter, Don King, behind me, I felt the pressure I had to act from bell to bell. Sometimes a little arrogance would happen. I put my hands down and got hit. So this is the “show” part. So yeah, when you move into a fight, it’s a bit of a show. Most are direct Let’s get to work.
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You say you’ve never felt pain in the ring. How, especially when you are having difficulty in your personal life, do you stay focused?
It’s a good question. I liked it. I absolutely love he. I loved the competition. I loved being in front of a crowd, knocking someone out. There is no bigger high or adrenaline rush. But it was just me, my wife Lisa, who is also a world boxing champion, just wanted to beat you for ten rounds.
[Laughter]
She didn’t really mean to hurt you. My theory on this – let me knock you out and be done with it – actually saves you the pain. But that was just my theory. I got the same check at the end of the night whether I took a ride or ten. So let’s get the check and go home.
CHRISTY SALTERS MARTIN in EPISODE 2: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
No problem with that. I have to ask too — tell me about the fame. Like in, when you make history in front of 80 million people, like in Gogerty’s fight. Tell me about the sound. What does it feel like when the whole world stands up and cheers you on?
You know what? It was the craziest thing. This was how all my fights went: wars, struggles, breathing, bleeding. I did not understand. When I got back to my hotel room and got all these calls from famous people, people who wanted to book me for their shows, I thought it was a joke. I called [my publicist] and was like why would someone do this to me? He was like you do not understand. All the buzz is about you. Nobody even talks about Tyson. So it was overwhelming. Who could have imagined? Who would have imagined that a coal miner’s daughter from a town of 500 West Virginia would fight in front of the world?
Tell me more about this celebrity. When you become successful overnight, is it scary? Addictive? Does this add to the pressure?
Yes, that puts more pressure. Yes, it is scary. And yes, it is addicting. You want more and more. You just want to keep growing and be a bigger name on the boxing show. It’s part of marketing. So to be on Leno, where Katie Couric interviewed me on Today’s show, no fighter has ever had this kind of exposure. And the way I got it, it wasn’t like I got it before the fight. I got it after the fight because it was really entertaining. It had shock value.
It is also remarkable to hear your contemporaries, even former competitors like Gogerty, Laila Ali or even Mike Tyson, speak of you reverently. They respect you, and it’s a testament to your heritage.
LISA HOLEWYNE in EPISODE 2: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
The other question I have about this is you say you can only unleash anger in the ring, never anywhere else. Why was this the case?
Well, in the boxing ring, that’s what people expect. They expect you to be aggressive, strong, arrogant – an arrogant ass sometimes. This is who I was. Christy Martin is kind of a character of who I really am. In my personal life, I am very calm, very shy. Even to do this interview, I had to take some deep breaths. It’s hard to expose yourself, even though I did. It’s hard every time.
Your life took a transformative turn when you reconnected with Sherry. You got out of a bad marriage, you quit drug addiction. What was it like to accept the love that gave you so much inner strength?
I got to the point where I had to go out and be who I really am. My boxing career was over, so Jim could hurt me less. I just knew that in order to really live – to have a life of some sort – I had to get away with it. Sherry had messaged me through Facebook and we reconnected without knowing what was going to happen. I loved her like crazy in high school. When we got back together, we were still trying to find that first romantic arousal. At this point, I’m more in love with the idea of being me, who I really am. I have said several times: you can get on or off the moving train. It’s not serious. At the time, I was 43, and who cares? I wanted to be happy. I hope through this documentary that this is what we are showing. Sometimes you have to dig deep. Let’s be true to ourselves.
LAILA ALI in EPISODE 2: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
What is the state of your life now?
Basically, on a day to day basis, I work on promoting boxing. I’ll tell you it’s a lot harder to be the promoter than the boxer. I liked it. It was fun to be the fighter. Being a promoter is difficult; there is a lot of work involved. I’m also busy with Christy’s Champs, my non-profit domestic violence awareness group. I spoke recently at Harbor House. I’ll be in Chesapeake, Virginia next week. I want to draw the attention of every woman to domestic violence. So many people think it’s just bruises. It’s so much more than physical. It’s mental, physical, controlling.
So after going through all of this, when do you feel the most happiness?
[Long Pause]
Wow. The most happiness? It’s just cool with Lisa. We have a little time to hang out. We’re actually going to Las Vegas this weekend at the Boxing Hall of Fame. I took it out a day earlier just so we had some free time and could have fun. It’s a busy life.
Untold: Deal with the Devil hits Netflix on August 17th.
