The Coal Miner's Daughter's Real Name: Christy Renea Salters

Quick answer: The boxer known as the Coal Miner's Daughter is Christy Martin, whose documented original name is Christy Renea Salters. Biography.com uses that form and dates her birth to June 12, 1968, in Mullens, West Virginia. Encyclopedia.com uses the shorter Christy Salters, dates the birth to 1969, and places her growing up in Bluefield, West Virginia (Biography; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Christy Martin and by the ring nickname the Coal Miner's Daughter, a reference to her father's work in the mines and not to the Loretta Lynn film of the same name. Biography.com names her parents as John Salters, a welder at the local coal mine, and Joyce Salters, and says she grew up in Mullens. Encyclopedia.com says she grew up in Bluefield, the daughter of a coal miner, and that her brother later entered the mines as well. Both sources describe her as a standout high-school basketball player who later attended Concord College in West Virginia on a basketball scholarship before turning to boxing.

Career highlights

Biography.com says she competed in a Toughman contest around age 21 and went on to a professional career. Encyclopedia.com independently records her early professional years and a later signing with promoter Don King. Biography.com dates that relationship to the early 1990s and says King's office placed her March 1996 fight with Deirdre Gogarty in Las Vegas on the undercard of Mike Tyson's bout with Frank Bruno; Martin won by unanimous decision, and she later appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Biography.com also records a WBC super welterweight championship, a professional record of 49–7–3 with 31 knockouts, a last match against Mia St. John in 2012, induction into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014, and a later International Boxing Hall of Fame induction.

Legal notes

Biography.com records that in 2010 she was the victim of an attack at home and that her then-husband, Jim Martin, was later convicted of attempted second-degree murder. The same profile notes that he later died in prison, in November 2024.

Name notes for searchers

Christy Renea Salters is the documented original name used by Biography.com; Encyclopedia.com uses Christy Salters. The professional name is Christy Martin, and the ring nickname is the Coal Miner's Daughter. She should not be confused with the actress Sissy Spacek, who played Loretta Lynn in the film Coal Miner's Daughter.