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Of all the crazy things that's happened in my life, this might be the craziest freaking day
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ever. Here I am packing to go to the premiere of Christy, the movie, starring Sydney
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Sweeney and Ben Foster at the film festival in Toronto. This is crazy to me. Emotions were running high as Sydney
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Sweeney stepped out with Christy Martin. I am honored that Sydney was willing to
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portray me and my boxing career and all the crazy other things that happened in life.
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The fact that she's standing here right now and the whole world's going to get to see
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her life and everything you went through and everything that you pushed through and you fought for,
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it's so inspiring and I'm incredibly honored. The coal miner's daughter, Christy
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Martin. Christy Martin was a public figure, a sports star, a pioneer. She put boxing on the map for females.
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She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She made millions of dollars boxing.
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Christy was married to Jim Martin. Jim was a boxing trainer and Jim trained her We'll take her out there.
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We'll take her out there. For years, it was Christy and Jim as a team together. [Music]
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Case number 2010, State of Florida versus James V. Martin. This is one of the most memorable cases
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I had in approximately 5,000 that I handled as a prosecutor. It has a little bit of everything. You
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have drugs, there's a sex tape. This is one of the most fascinating cases I've ever been a
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part of. What did you want the jury to know about this marriage? That Jim Martin wasn't a a loving, caring
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husband. Jim's control led to psychological abuse, physical abuse. He started to
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provide her with controlled substances and would put Christy in a very compromised position to where she had to
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rely on Jim or else her career would be over. Christy had told him that she wanted out
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of the relationship. How did Jim take the news that Christy wanted out? Like his world was collapsing.
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How did he take the news that she was seeing someone else? Horribly. But I don't think anybody truly believes
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that the person that you've built a life with would all of a sudden turn and want
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you dead. Inside the couple's Orange County home, James Martin stabbed his wife with a buck knife four times in the
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chest and back. >> then ultimately gets a firearm. He stands over her and shoots her in the chest.
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So, Jim pleads not guilty. What's your reaction? Expected. She's the one that had the gun. Jim was
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just trying to defend himself and they fought over the gun. The way Jim described it, Christy was
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hooked on drugs and she was extremely aggressive. He was constantly afraid of physical
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attacks by her. Jury's entering. All rise. It's not every day that the target of a
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murder ends up living to tell their story on the stand. It's rare. At this time, the state of Florida calls
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Christy Martin. Christy was the boxer. Jim was the opponent. The jury was the audience and the judge was the referee.
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And Christy had always talked about she wanted to win 50 fights in her life. Well,
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Christy won 49 professional boxing matches in her career. That courtroom was the 50th fight.
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He's taken my head and he's beating it to where the drawers are and I said, "You cannot kill me." And I meant it,
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just like the sun came up this morning. I meant it. [Music]