Full Description
The extraordinary story of a female boxer's meteoric rise to become the fighter who legitimized women in combat sports and the personal turmoil she hid from the world.
Boxing legend Christy Martin was a trailblazer in the ring and continues to be an inspiration to female fighters across the globe. She is without a doubt the most important woman in the history of female combat sports. But behind the scenes Martin was in a losing battle, unable to express her true sexual identity and struggling to survive sexual and domestic abuse at the hands of her husband.
In Fighting for Survival: My Journey through Boxing Fame, Abuse, Murder, and Resurrection, Christy Martin recounts her harrowing yet inspiring story. Growing up in a small town in West Virginia, Martin felt forced to keep her sexual orientation hidden to please her family and the sports world, eventually agreeing to a sham marriage with coach Jim Martin. While she rose to prominence in the world of boxing, Martin was secretly contending with substance abuse, domestic violence, and an attempted murder by her husband, who left her to die on their bedroom floor.
Fighting for Survival reveals how Martin battled back to life from her near-death experience, how she overcame abuse, violence, addiction, and 40 years of living in the closet, and how she turned her pain into victory and debasement into triumph. Her story is one of hope and self-belief, an inspiration for anyone struggling to break the chain of abuse or who fears to be open about their sexual orientation. It is more than the story of a boxing champion; it is the story of a survivor.
Contents
Dedication
Foreword
Chapter 1: Dead on the floor
Chapter 2:Coal Miner's Daughter
Chapter 3: The thing we carry, the things we hide
Chapter 4:How'd I get myself into a Toughman contest?
Chapter 5: "Want to box, girl?"
Chapter 6: Meeting my mentor...and my menace
Chapter 7: What kind of proposal was that?
Chapter 8: Enter Don King
Chapter 9: The fight that legitimized me and women's boxing
Chapter 10: Bright lights, big city
Chapter 11: Big fights, ear bites
Chapter 12: Chasing a million dollar payday...and not getting it
Chapter 13: On Boxing: It's not about violence. It's about self-control
Chapter 14: All done with Don King but not with fighting, inside the ring and out
Chapter 15: Down for the count and ashamed of how I got there
Chapter 16: No place to run, no place to hide
Chapter 17: Sex, drugs and videotapes
Chapter 18: A champion again, but not for long
Chapter 19: Comeback to nowhere
Chapter 20: One life ends and so does another
Chapter 21: Necessary endings, new beginnings
About the authors
