February 26, 1997
It all started as a dare for Orlando's Christy Martin ten years ago. While a freshman education major at Concord College in West Virginia, the 5'4" basketball star, egged on by her friends, entered and won a local "Toughwoman" contest with a $1000 cash prize.
Today the 29-year-old Martin holds the title of WBC Women's Lightweight Champion, and is billed as the women's 'pound for pound' champion with her impressive record of 37-2-2 with 27 KO's.
Trained by her 54-year-old husband, Jim Martin, in his Orlando gym, Christy caught the eye of mega-promoter Don King, who decided to sign her despite the fact that women's boxing was still considered part of the freak-show genre.
King saw something in the young Martin, an actual 'coal miner's daughter', who possessed true boxing skills and pulled no punches in or out of the ring. She will tell you straight out her reason for boxing: the money. Fame and fortune.
Martin is also quite adamant about her image. Sporting pink shoes, pink trunks and make-up in the ring, she makes every effort to maintain a feminine appearance, negating the misconception that a female boxer must be a 'manly' woman.
Christy Martin's big opportunity came in 1996 when King provided her the perfect vehicle to start gaining national attention. She won a bloody, skillfully boxed six-round bout on the under card of the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno Heavyweight Title fight, which drew over 1.1 million pay-per-viewers.
The media attention exploded after that fight (which most say was a better fight than the main event), including appearances on "Good Morning America", Jay Leno, "Prime Time Live" and a cover story for "Sports Illustrated".
As for Martin's ultimate goal of fortune, after bringing home only $15,000 for the Tyson-Bruno bout, she received a new BMW from Don King, and a reported $60,000 for the following Tyson pay-per-view fight card. All of this leads one to believe that Orlando's Christy Martin really can hit her mark.
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