Puerto Rin boxer Orlando Cz announc he's gay | The Gayly

boxers openly gay

By Kirk Jackson Throughout the history of the sport, as well as every other sport, there has been gay athlet. Wh boxg, this beg such a

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

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

Will he be boxg's first openly gay champn? Cz aims to bee boxg's first openly gay world champn. Beme boxg's first openly gay, active fighter 2012.

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 * boxers openly gay *

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. 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. 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.

PUERTO RIN ORLANDO CZ IS FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXER

Orlando Cz out as the first openly gay boxer * boxers openly gay *

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.

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

PUERTO RIN BOXER ORLANDO CZ ANNOUNC HE'S GAY

Orlando Cz out as the first openly gay boxer * boxers openly gay *

“I am gay and I am the first openly gay boxer, but this has been my reer for years. “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. The Englishman’s sister, a profsnal footballer the Women’s Super League, is also openly gay. It don’t affect me at all as my sister Chelsea is openly gay.

PUERTO RIN BOXER ORLANDO CZ ANNOUNC HE'S GAY

The featherweight om Puerto Ri says he's a 'proud gay man' * boxers openly gay *

While Flanagan’s views are rehg – Cz also says he has received nothg but rpect om opponents – there are still high-profile figur boxg who are openly homophobic. Former heavyweight world champn Tyson Fury has regularly shown disda towards homosexuals, while Manny Pacquiao earlier this year lled upl same-sex relatnships “worse than animals.

“The Philipp have gay people, so why was he talkg badly about the LGBT muny? He said he was sorry and that he rpects me and the gay muny a lot. His stggle to make to the top of his sport; the fight to be accepted as a gay man the world of boxg and his home natn; the punishg world tle feat to Salido.

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.

ORLANDO CZ COM OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY PROFSNAL BOXER

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.

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

"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.

"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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* BOXERS OPENLY GAY

Orlando Cz: Boxer dreams of beg first openly gay world champn | CNN .

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