A BOXER WHO WAS ATTACKED BY HER HUSBAND AND LEFT FOR DEAD SPEAKS OUT IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN "48 HOURS: CHRISTY MARTIN - THE FIGHT OF HER LIFE"

Saturday, Nov. 14 at 10:00 PM

Opponents feared boxer Christy Martin in the ring. However, it was at home where Martin fought her biggest battle - the one for her life. Now, Martin is speaking out for other victims of domestic abuse in 48 HOURS: "Christy Martin - The Fight of Her Life" to be broadcast Saturday, Nov. 14 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Martin was a worldwide sensation in the boxing ring and was even on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She won 49 fights and was heading for 50. Away from the ring, however, Martin says she faced a different fight because her husband Jim Martin was abusive and controlling.

"I keep thinking of the people who will watch this and say, 'How does a woman who's so powerful ... how is she not able to stand up for herself at home,'" asks correspondent David Begnaud.

"I know that people think that. But, I didn't have the same type of mental strength to overtake him," Martin responds.

That relationship came to a head on Nov. 23, 2010, when Martin says she told her husband that day she wanted to end the marriage. Jim Martin, she says, beat and stabbed her before pulling a gun. Moments later, he fired one shot into her chest, missing her heart by just inches.

"He starts to beat me. Bam, bam. He's beating my head," she recalls. "And bam, just like that, the switch flipped. I told him 'You cannot kill me.'"

Christy Martin survived that day in their Florida home. Jim Martin would then go on trial for attempted murder. Jim Martin's attorney maintained it was Christy Martin who attacked her husband, not the other way around. Likewise, prosecutors also wondered whether a jury would believe that a celebrated boxer would be beaten by her husband.

48 HOURS and Begnaud report on Martin's life in boxing, the horrific attack that nearly killed her and how she put her life back together to become an advocate for victims of domestic abuse through interviews with Martin, prosecutors, Jim Martin's defense attorney and more.

"Finally, I have been able to come ... to terms with, I got the 50th win when I got up off the floor Nov. 23, 2010 and got out of my house. That was my 50th win," Martin says.

Today, she's using that experience to help others.

"I think it's a remarkable story because you have a world-famous champion boxer and she could still be in a domestic violence relationship, because that isn't about physical strength. It's about mental abuse," says prosecutor Deborah Barra.

48 HOURS: "Christy Martin - The Fight of Her Life" is produced by Judy Rybak. Danielle Arman is the associate producer. T. Sean Herbert is the location producer. Jud Johnston and George Baluzy are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

Follow 48 HOURS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Listen to podcasts at CBSAudio.