Openly Gay Boxer Orlando Cz Is Still Fightg Homophobia, Five Years After Comg Out

Contents:

• ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA SPORT WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS
• ORLANDO CZ FIGHTS TO BEE BOXG’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHAMPN
• ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS
• ORLANDO CZ: BOXER DREAMS OF BEG FIRST OPENLY GAY WORLD CHAMPN
• ORLANDO CZ ULD BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXG WORLD CHAMPN
• ORLANDO CZ AIMS TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXG CHAMPN
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY
• WHAT ’S LIKE BEG AN OPENLY GAY BOXER, 3 TERRIBLE TWEETS
• ORLANDO CZ TO BE FIRST OPENLY GAY WORLD BOXG CHAMPN IF HE BEATS BRISH STAR TERRY FLANAGAN CARDIFF
• ORLANDO CZ LOS BID TO BEE 1ST OPENLY GAY BOXG CHAMPN
• CZ, BOXG'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FIGHTER, GETS TLE SHOT
• ORLANDO CZ: I WILL BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY CHAMPN
• ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS

ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA SPORT WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS

The world’s first LGBTQ+ boxg tournament is set to be staged Sydney after the natn’s erng body threw s support behd the Atralia has endorsed efforts by World Gay Boxg Champnships (WGBC), a not-for-prof found by lol boxer Mart Stark to build clivy and bat homophobia and transphobia the sport, to lnch the first such LGBTQ+-iendly, who has lived wh Addison’s disease sce 2006, took up boxg two years ago while learng self-fence at his lol martial arts centre. He planned to pete at the 2022 Gay Gam but, when boxg was taken off the list, sought to fill the gap himself by lnchg an LGBTQ+ tournament, followg the steps of other non-profsnal gay sports.

We have hosted the Gay Gam, the Sydney Convicts have won the Bgham Cup (a global LGBTQ+ gby unn tournament) several tim, and we’ve hosted the Bgham Cup.

Atralia’s amatr gay boxg muny is the start-up stage. ”Homophobia sport is still a global a 2015 study, iated by the Bgham Cup and a aln of other sportg anisatns, 80% of rponnts said they had wnsed or experienced homophobia sport and 75% believed an openly gay person would not be safe as a spectator at a sportg event. Rearch released Augt found the e of homophobic language is drastilly rced at sportg clubs which engage pri gam, provg diversy-themed events n have a posive sanctng the champnships, Boxg Atralia pledged a statement to “assist wh the velopment of the boxg program, givg nsiratn to people new to boxg and experienced boxers enablg straight, gay, lbian, bisexual, trans, genr diverse, tersex and non-bary people to safely participate”.

ORLANDO CZ FIGHTS TO BEE BOXG’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHAMPN

When the boxer Orlando Cz issued a prs release on October 3, 2012, announcg to the world that he is gay, a strange thg happened: nothg. He is also boxg’s first openly gay profsnal fighter, and he is eager to bee s first openly gay world champn.

ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS

Both of his parents attend their son’s weddg to his longtime partner, José Manuel Colón, an timate gatherg that took place 2013, Central Jul Serrano, a well-known gay activist who, like Cz, is om Puerto Ri, helped facilate Cz’s announcement 2012. I have always been and always will be a proud gay man. ”Serrano, speakg om his office San Juan, said that he saw Cz’s g out as helpg to dispel two myths: that Latos are homophobic, and that the ultra-macho sport of boxg has no place for a gay fighter.

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

Griffh is probably bt known for his 1962 fight agast the Cuban welterweight Benny Paret: after endurg anti-gay slurs om Paret at the weigh- before the fight, he unleashed his fury the rg, knockg Paret unnsc. When he steps to the rg at Motorpot Arena, Cardiff, Wal, he expects to see symbols of gay pri, which fans have begun wavg at his fights, to cheer him on.

ORLANDO CZ ULD BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXG WORLD CHAMPN

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. " Mart, who has sce survived a murr attempt when her hband shot and knifed her, is now retired and volved a gay relatnship.

ORLANDO CZ AIMS TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXG CHAMPN

"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.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS 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? " 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.

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

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. 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.

"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. Will he be boxg's first openly gay champn? Cz aims to bee boxg's first openly gay world champn.

ORLANDO CZ TO BE FIRST OPENLY GAY WORLD BOXG CHAMPN IF HE BEATS BRISH STAR TERRY FLANAGAN CARDIFF

Beme boxg's first openly gay, active fighter 2012.

Deeply embedd two worlds – boxg and Puerto Ri – that are found machismo, Cz has also bee a gay in to thoands.

On Saturday, Cz has the chance to create history – should he beat Bra’s Terry Flanagan for the WBO lightweight tle, the 35-year-old will bee the first ever openly gay world champn.

ORLANDO CZ LOS BID TO BEE 1ST OPENLY GAY BOXG CHAMPN

Boxg, like many other sports, is yet to fully open s arms to the ia of a gay athlete, somethg Cz has unsurprisgly experienced first-hand.

“I don’t re if they say, ‘Orlando Cz is gay.

CZ, BOXG'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FIGHTER, GETS TLE SHOT

Wh so few openly gay, active profsnal athlet across all sports, Cz is aware what the rult of the fight will mean to those who look up to him. “The support of the gay muny, Puerto Ri, New York and different natnali, is very important, ” he says. In 2013, his chance to bee the first openly gay boxg champn me and went btal fashn.

Cz me out to his fay and a psychologist long before publicly announcg he was gay 2012. I don’t re that other people talk about me, sayg, ‘Orlando Cz is gay, Orlando is bad or bulls***.

For many, boxg is sport’s ultimate show of masculy and Cz still regularly fds himself fightg the misnceptn that a man n’t be both gay and mascule. “Sometim one, two or three people say, ‘you’re gay, and you’re a boxer… wow.

ORLANDO CZ: I WILL BE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY CHAMPN

I say, ‘I am gay, but I am a man like you.

“I am gay and I am the first openly gay boxer, but this has been my reer for years.

ATRALIAN FIGHTS HOMOPHOBIA WH WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS

“People say, ‘Orlando is gay but this is boxg, boxg is macho. ’ I have to tell them, ‘Orlando Cz is gay, but he’s a man… not a girl. “Ee Griffh never spoke publicly or told an terview he was gay, ” Cz says.

Cz n still vividly remember the feelg of steppg to the rg for the first time as an openly gay man, retag his WBO Lato Featherweight tle agast Mexin Je Pazos. Such is Cz’s fluence the gay muny and wir sportg world, Jason Colls – the first openly gay active basketball player – ntacted him to say he’s an spiratn for “g out of the closet. Wh gay marriage illegal Puerto Ri – the Caribbean island where the uple ris, albe at oppose sis of the untry – and many US stat, they had some thkg to do.