Christy Martin made a remarkable return to the ring Saturday at Staples Center – only six months after an attack that almost killed her – but lost to Dakota Stone after breaking her right hand.
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Martin, leading on scorecards, loses by TKO to Stone after breaking her hand
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LOS ANGELES -- Christy Martin made a remarkable return to the ring Saturday at Staples Center – only six months after an attack that almost killed her – but lost to Dakota Stone after breaking her right hand. The fight, which Martin was winning on all three cards, was stopped at 1:09 of the sixth and final round by the ring doctor. Jim Martin, Martin’s husband and longtime trainer, allegedly beat, stabbed and shot her and left for dead in their home in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 23 after she announced she was leaving him for a woman. Martin crawled outside and flagged down a neighbor, who took her to a hospital. Jim Martin is in prison awaiting an October trial for attempted murder. She continues to battle emotional scars but recovered quickly enough physically to schedule a fight for April. She pulled out because of a rib injury but was able to fight for the first time in 20 months Saturday. Martin, a regular on the cards of Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez in the 1990s and early 2000s, isn’t as quick or athletic as she once was but is still a warrior. The Coal Miner’s Daughter narrowly won two of the first three rounds but put Stone (10-8-5, 2 KOs) down with a big right in the fourth round, during which she also injured her hand. Clearly in pain, she threw almost exclusively left hands the remainder of that round and in the fifth. However, she landed a right in the sixth that made her wince and stop fighting momentarily, forcing the referee to turn to the ring doctor. Martin (49-6-3, 31 KOs) begged him to continue but he stopped the fight. Martin defeated Stone by a majority decision in September 2009. |