In an era when the prize money for women’s boxing is on the rise, Christy Martin says there are times when she wishes she was still fighting. But the former boxing pioneer and subject of the new movie “Christy,” starring actress Sydney Sweeney made it clear she would never want to face a transgender boxer in the ring.

In an exclusive interview with the New York Sun, Ms. Martin, didn’t mince words about one of boxing’s most divisive debates — transgender women competing in women’s sports. When it comes to boxing, she is firmly opposed to transgender women competing against natural born women.

 “I 100 percent believe that if you’re born a woman, you fight women,” Ms. Martin tells the New York Sun. “If you’re born a man, you fight men.”

Transgender women competing in women’s boxing has been a controversial issue in recent years and became a focal point at the Paris Olympics when Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei were won gold medals in Paris after being disqualified from competing at the 2023 world championship for failed gender eligibility tests.

More recently, Ms. Lin won a gold medal in the 60Kg division at Taiwan’s National Games in her first event in the Olympics and plans on competing in the world championships. Meanwhile, the International Boxing Association is accusing the International Olympic Committee of bending the rules for political gain and World Boxing is requesting Ms. Khelif return her gold medal.

Ms. Martin, known professionally as the Coal Miner’s Daughter, made her thoughts clear on the debate. “If you want to transgender, it’s your right,” she tells the Sun. “If that’s what you want to do, that’s what you should do. But as in life, everything you do has consequences. One of the consequences you have with transgendering is you can’t compete in sports against women. You just can’t do that. If you want to compete against other transgender boxers, I think that’s fair.”

Ms. Martin is hoping “Christy,” which opened in theaters across the country on Friday, will be a boost for women’s boxing. The movie chronicles her rise from a small town in West Virginia to the top of women’s professional boxing in the 1990s and her husband’s attempt to murder her by stabbing and shooting her in 2010.  Jim Martin died in prison and Ms. Martin married a former ring rival Lisa Holewyne in 2017.

There are plenty of hard-to-view scenes in the movie, but Ms. Martin’s triumph in the ring connects with her triumph over near death domestic violence. She still retains a love of the sport and is an active promoter and boxing analyst.

She applauds the growth of women’s boxing in recent years led by Jake Paul, the YouTube influencer turned boxer. He launched a boxing promotional company that raised the profile and the purses for women’s boxing, putting fighters like Amanda Serrano, Alycia Baumgardner, Katie Holmes, and Stephanie Han in featured bouts.

“Jake Paul is like the new Don King as far as women’s boxing goes,” Ms. Martin said. “He’s given them a huge platform and he’s paying them. Sometimes I wish I was fighting now. But if I hadn’t done what I did in the ‘90s to get people to take women’s boxing seriously we wouldn’t be here today.”

Mr. Paul’s promotion of women boxers led him to canceling his upcoming exhibition bout with world champion Gervonta Davis scheduled for Nov. 14 in Miami after Mr. Davis’s ex-girlfriend filed a civil lawsuit, accusing the boxer of aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and intentional infliction of emotional distress.  The exhibition bout was scheduled to be streamed on Netflix.

“If you support this man, you support the most vile sin a man can commit,” Mr. Paul posted on X. “I don’t want to give this woman abuser a platform to grow his fans and to grow his bank account. My company champions women.”

Ms. Martin is hoping the “Christy,” movie, which is generating Oscar buzz, will give her a larger platform to speak about domestic violence, sexuality issues and drug addiction. “Whenever anybody calls and I’m available, I’ll make it happen,” she said.