New opera tells story of gay boxer Ee Griffh - Outsports

gay boxer champion

Orlando Cz will create history by beg the first openly gay boxg world champn should he feat Terry Flanagan on Saturday.

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ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS

Puerto Rin n make history by beg the first openly gay world champn on Saturday. He tells Steve Bunce about g out the macho world of boxg * gay boxer champion *

He was gay and like all boxers, at all levels, he was judged on whether he uld fight and not on his sexual preferenc; the Pounr, who wore pk, was a nice guy but not much of a fighter and nobody held that agast Saturday Las Vegas, Orlando Cz, which is his real name, will bee the first openly gay boxer to w a world tle if he n overe the odds and beat Orlando Salido for the vant WBO featherweight tle. Cz announced he was gay last year, never lost his promoter, never lost his rankg and never lost a sgle iend om si the ugly bs of boxg.

"Cz fought for Puerto Ri at the Sydney Olympics 2000 and has been a ge ntenr for a uple of years and gay for a lot longer. "I'm a boxer first, I want to be a world champn and remembered that way and not as a gay boxer, " he the Neti, Christy Mart, another boxg pneer, said somethg siar about women the sport: "I fight for Christy Mart and not for women's rights to box.

KILLER PUNCH OF A SECRETLY GAY BOXER

A new opera productn at the Met explor the life and tragic reer of the gay boxer Ee Griffh, a welterweight champn. * gay boxer champion *

" Mart, who has sce survived a murr attempt when her hband shot and knifed her, is now retired and volved a gay relatnship. "Boxg n be a macho sport and I have heard some gay slurs, " says Cz. "However, Cz, who is 32, is not a mpaigner for gay rights jt yet and he has polely refed all attempts to csa on behalf of other gay athlet, men like him stgglg to e to terms wh tellg the people they pete wh, or for, that they are gay.

However, private he has obvly spoken to other boxers facg the same dilemma he did last has received a lot of media attentn this week (Getty) (Getty Imag)"Perhaps there are other gay boxers and perhaps they are too sred to say anythg, " Cz says. " Hopefully, there will not be a reverse wch-hunt boxg, like there is other sports, where people on the outsi bee fixated on outg more gay athlet; the people boxg simply don't re.

"Gay, so what?

EE GRIFFH, WHO FAMOLY KILLED FELLOW BOXER AFTER GAY SLUR, DI AT 75

"Champn" buts St. Louis and looks at a tragic and ltle-known figure gay sports history. * gay boxer champion *

" All boxers world tle fights have to unrgo and pass a route HIV tt and plenty, none of whom said they were gay, have failed the has dited Saturday's fight to Ee Griffh, one of the greatt boxers history, who died this summer after admtg late his life that he had slept wh both men and women. He was om a time when homosexuals were not lled "gay" and he hated the word once was ed to scribe him when he fally end three s of speculatn. The Cuban never revered and died a few days emerged later that Paret had lled Griffh a marin, the Spanish word for homosexual, and had touched him appropriately when the pair weighed for the fight; Paret was naked at the time, which is not unmon for a tle fight.

ALLEN’S SUBSTACKSUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"THE GAY BOXER HISTORY: AL PANAMA BROWN","SCRIPTN":"A BANTAMWEIGHT BOXG CHAMPN WH A BARET REER ON THE SI","IMAGE":[{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":"}],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2023-04-07T14:50:07+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2023-04-07T14:50:07+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"ALLEN FRANTZEN","URL":","SCRIPTN":"ALLEN IS A RETIRED PROFSOR AND ACTIVE BOXER, THOR OF MORN MASCULY, A GUI FOR MEN (2016) AND BOXG AND MASCULY: FIGHTG TO FD THE WHOLE MAN (2022). HE HAS PUBLISHED MANY BOOKS ON THE MIDDLE AG.","INTIFIER":"ER:68133497","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"ALLEN\U2019S SUBSTACK","URL":","SCRIPTN":"BOXG, BOXG BOOKS, AND MASCULY","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":100},"INTIFIER":"PUB:1258890","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}}SHARE THIS POSTTHE GAY BOXER HISTORY: AL PANAMA COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERTHE GAY BOXER HISTORY: AL PANAMA BROWN

The Metropolan Opera will prent s premiere of Terence Blanchard’s first opera, “Champn,” about closeted gay boxer Ee Griffh, April 2023. * gay boxer champion *

There has always been a bate about whether Paret meant or was jt sayg to get unr Griffh's sk; Griffh told me that Paret had been ma to say , but that was heartfelt and meant, which is good enough for late great Ee Griffh me out after he retired (Getty) (Getty Imag)Griffh had stggled wh his sexualy throughout his reer and retirement and 1992 was left for ad after five thugs on a "fag-bashg" rampage attacked him wh baseball bats outsi a gay club New York.

NEW OPERA TELLS STORY OF GAY BOXER EE GRIFFH

Gay boxer Anthony Ash proposed to his boyiend the rg to the light of cheerg fans. * gay boxer champion *

"This fight is for Ee bee he never had the backg and support that I have had, " add Saturday Cz starts as a heavy unrdog agast former champn Salido but will still leave the rg as the first openly gay male boxer to fight for a world tle. He proposed to Manuel on Facebook earlier this year and, has to be said, if he was thkg of makg the transn to gay fighter low-key, then planng a same-sex marriage was a bold move. Cz was also a first-year ductee to the Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame Chigo this summer, alongsi Greg Louganis and Marta n also really fight and the thls bs of boxg, a sport that has not really changed 150 years, that is all that matters; mak no difference if you are black, whe, gay, straight, male, female, nice, unpleasant, Christian, Mlim, ugly or handsome, as long as you have guts and n have a fight.

I thk that is pretty rehg and Ee would be very and proud: Gay sportspeopleJason Colls Sce g out as gay, US basketball player has been unable to fd an NBA Rogers Former Leeds and Stevenage footballer who currently plays for LA Walsh and Helen Richardson GB Olympic hockey players who married Hysen First active footballer to e out sce Jt Fashanu. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTA Prizefighter’s Double Life, at Madison Square Garn and at StonewallA new opera productn at the Met explor the life and tragic reer of the gay boxer Ee Griffh, a welterweight champn.

Photographs om the personal llectn of Willson Lee Henrson, on the right of the bottom and far right imag, who was iends wh Ee Griffh, Vazquez for The New York TimIn the 1960s, Ee Griffh was a boxg star, known for his speed and punchg power, wh a regular prence at Madison Square neighborhoods near the Garn, he let his other si show, one of flashy outfs and unapologetic swagger, where he equented his favore gay bars and Griffh kept his two worlds separate. “He was livg a double life, two liv, night and day, ” said Willson Lee Henrson, a gay rights activist who said he met Mr. Griffh early 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, the famo gay bar Greenwich Village, several months before a police raid touched off the Stonewall Rebelln and the morn gay rights boxer, who died 2013 at 75 om kidney failure and plitns of mentia, was known at the Stonewall for his open shirts and gold chas.

GAY BOXER PROPOS TO BOYIEND AFTER WNG HIS FIRST MATCH

Griffh unleashed a fatal barrage of punch the 12th round agast an opponent who had tnted him wh a homophobic slur. Griffh never shied away om equentg gay clubs. That ma him a source of enarment and pri for the gay muny pecially as police raids, prsure and harassment ntued the late 1960s, said Mr.

“He was a pneer gay rights behd the scen but was never acknowledged for , ” Mr.

ORLANDO CZ: BOXER DREAMS OF BEG FIRST OPENLY GAY WORLD CHAMPN

“He was never given cred by the gay muny or the sports muny, so he missed out on both.

“In the ‘60s, beg gay wasn’t the most popular thg, and beg gay boxg culture was like sacrilege, ” said Michael Bentt, 58, a former world heavyweight champn and an actor who was iendly wh Mr.

WHAT ’S LIKE BEG AN OPENLY GAY BOXER, 3 TERRIBLE TWEETS

“I mentned that there was this gay boxer who was an outst many muni and was loved other muni, ” said Mr. Griffh a mockg lisp and lled him “maricón, ” a Spanish anti-gay slur that enraged Mr. ”A boxer wh style and panache‘He went to the nightclubs, drag clubs, gay bars and he took all ’Mr.

Griffh equented gay bars and clubs midtown like L Jard, the Gild Grape and Better Days.

THE NIGHT BOXER EE GRIFFH ANSWERED GAY TNTS WH A ADLY RTEGE OF PUNCH

“He went to the nightclubs, drag clubs, gay bars and he took all , ” said Jam Robson, the opera’s director. Griffh told The Tim “He was a pneer gay rights behd the scen but was never acknowledged for , ” said Mr. ”The beatg and his drkg hastened his cle, leavg the chiseled champ who was once the toast of the gay clubs now livg a cluttered efficiency apartment on Long Island wh his trophi and champnship belts storage bags.

Griffh was gay, and at the weigh- before the fight, Paret had tnted him, llg him a “marin, ” a rogatory Spanish term, siar to “faggot. He was a black man and an unrdog, and then he was hangg out gay bars and gettg beaten up by thugs.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY BOXER CHAMPION

Killer Punch of a Secretly Gay Boxer .

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