Here’s how Christy Martin’s comeback fight played out in real life. Movie spoilers ahead!
‘Christy’ star Sydney Sweeney says she was bullied as a child
Sydney Sweeney and Ben Foster chat with USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about the film “Christy” and their respective childhoods.
- Sydney Sweeney stars as boxer Christy Martin in the biopic “Christy” (in theaters now).
- “Christy” shows the former world champ rallying after her estranged husband attempted to murder her.
- How accurate is the ending of “Christy”? Sydney Sweeney explains. Spoilers!
Spoiler alert! We’re discussing the ending of the movie “Christy” (in theaters now), so beware if you haven’t seen it yet.
Professional boxer Christy Martin made headlines in and out of the ring. Those storylines play out in the new biopic “Christy,” starring Sydney Sweeney as the former world champion.
Martin was raised in a small town in West Virginia; her background earned her the nickname “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” as a boxer. Martin’s fights, namely her 1996 match against Deirdre Gogarty, brought women’s boxing to a whole new audience.
But she dealt with personal struggles along the way. Her parents weren’t supportive of her profession or that she identified as gay. Christy married her trainer, James Martin, despite a 25-year age gap. Her husband was emotionally and physically abusive: In 2010, Jim stabbed and shot Christy in the torso after an argument, leaving her near death.
“Christy was not interested in talking with me,” Ben Foster, who plays James Martin in the biopic, tells USA TODAY. The boxer thought the actor resembled her husband too much, so she wouldn’t speak with him until filming wrapped.
As Foster and Sweeney prepared to film the murder scene, the actor leaned on other sources for his material.
“There’s a police report that’s quite extensive,” Foster says. “We followed that with some artistic license. When you study people in situations of violence, there can be moments of disassociation that we were interested in exploring.”
In 2012, James was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder. The former trainer died in prison while serving his sentence in November 2024.
Sydney Sweeney is physically transformed in ‘Christy’ trailer
“Christy,” based on real-life boxer Christy Martin, stars Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”) as the title character.
Did the ‘Christy’ ending happen in real life?
The ending of “Christy” follows the boxer as she recovers from the attempted murder and stages a comeback, stepping into the ring to fight Dakota Stone in 2011. However, in real life, while Martin overcame her near-fatal injuries to fight again, the match didn’t end on the same inspiring note. Stone won via technical knockout when the referee stopped the match because Martin suffered a broken right hand.
Martin appealed the decision with the California State Athletic Commission. Her lawyers claimed the referees were overly protective of her because she was a woman. At the time the fight ended, Martin was winning on the scorecards. But her appeal was unsuccessful.
“Christy deserved to win that fight,” Sweeney tells USA TODAY and notes there was never an alternate ending to the film that depicted the controversial finish. “The ref called that (match) way too early.”
Did Sweeney and Martin speak about the fight?
“Hell, yeah,” the actress says. “I talked to Christy about her whole life.”
