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boxer comes out gay

Donald McRae go behd the scen Buffalo as Orlando Cz, boxg's first openly gay fighter, prepar for his reer-fg world tle bout

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GAY BOXER ORLANDO CZ STGGLED WH G OUT

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 * boxer comes out gay *

Has his first fight sce announcement on FridayFirst active boxer to publicly e outHas gaed support the gay munyKISSIMMEE, Fla. — For so many years, Puerto Rin featherweight Orlando Cz stggled wh nflictg emotns regardg his place as a gay man the tradnally mascule, btal and often-remorsels enavor that is profsnal boxg. "I was aaid I uld be discrimated agast bee there is a lot of discrimatn agast the gay muny.

''Two weeks ago, the 31-year-old boxer beme the first active pro fighter to publicly clare that he was gay. In 2005, Ee Griffh, the Hall of Fame former world welterweight and middleweight champn, revealed his homosexualy three s after his fal 's story has generated world-wi media attentn for the ge tle ntenr and journeyman.

''Cz's publicly issued statement that he is a "proud gay man'' was a rare acknowledgement and unprecented among active pro athlet major sports. "Osr asked me before the fight, 'Are you gog to tell people you are gay? ''While Cz said his cisn to e out has been well received om fay and iends, pl the gay and lbian muni, he scribed a recent overt act of discrimatn that sadned him.

BOXER EE GRIFFH OUT AS GAY

Puerto Rin featherweight Orlando Cz be the first active boxer to publicly reveal he is gay. * boxer comes out gay *

''Cz said he is unncerned about potential tnts om fans — or future opponents tryg to distract him wh homophobic, Cz's Friday opponent, said he don't re about his challenger's sexual preference.

He said she spected he was gay even though he said, "I ed to like girls. "When I fish boxg, '' he add, "I want people to remember me: 'Orlando Cz was gay — and he was a good boxer and a good guy.

Image this -- a gay man beg one of the greatt profsnal boxers the history of the sport.

ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS

Yaf Mack, the Philly boxer who performed a gay porn film, admted he's gay. * boxer comes out gay *

Ee Griffh, a six-time world champn and charter member of the Internatnal Boxg Hall of Fame, is a homosexual. ” Griffh, 70, has led a turbulent life, wh his homosexualy beg a nstant backdrop. He has basilly been out for years (he once said he wanted to be the marshal the New York gay rights para), but this book he discs publicly for the first time.

In the new book, Griffh has this sad but te statement to make about his life as a gay man:. 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 BE FIRST BOXER TO E OUT AS GAY

Featherweight boxer Orlando Cz has bee the first big-time active profsnal boxer to e out as gay. Acrdg to USA Today, Cz, who has a strong profsnal rerd of 18-2-1, said he... * boxer comes out gay *

"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.

BOXER YAF MACK COM OUT AS BISEXUAL, APOLOGIZ TO BLACK GAY PORN STUD OVER CLAIMS HE WAS DGGED BEFORE FILMG

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 * boxer comes out gay *

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

"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.

PHILLY BOXER WH 10 KIDS WHO WAS OUTED AFTER GAY PORN ROMP ADMS HE’S GAY

Italy's Olympic bronze medal-wng boxer Irma Tta has e out as gay, sayg her succs at the Tokyo Gam earlier this year gave her the strength to make her sexual orientatn public. * boxer comes out gay *

" 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.

ORLANDO CZ BE FIRST PROFSNAL BOXER TO E OUT AS GAY

Orlando Cz won his first fight after announcg that he was gay, makg him the first pro boxer to e out. The crowd was on his si, cheerg him on to victory over Je Pazos. * boxer comes out gay *

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.

ORLANDO CZ, THEFIRST OPENLY GAY BOXER, OUT FIGHTG

* boxer comes out gay *

"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.

ITALIAN BOXER TTA OUT AS GAY AFTER OLYMPIC SUCCS

ROME (Rters) - Italy's Olympic bronze medal-wng boxer Irma Tta has e out as gay, sayg her succs at the Tokyo Gam earlier this year ga... * boxer comes out gay *

"Former two-weight world champn Ee Griffhexternal-lk me out as bisexual an terview wh Sports Illtrated magaze, but his admissn me after he had Bra, only Surrey cricketer Steven Davi, external-lk footballer Jt Fashanu, who took his own life 1998, external-lk and dual- gby ternatnal Gareth Thomas have e out durg their 2007, Brish basketball star John Amaechi beme the first NBA player to publicly announce he was gay, but he had retired three years prevly. A Pennsylvania boxer who claimed last week that he was dgged before he performed a gay porn film said Monday he had fabrited the story to ver up that he is bisexual.

ORLANDO CZ COM OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY PROFSNAL BOXER

Orlando Cz, the No. 4 ranked WBO featherweight fighter, has released a statement sayg that he is "a proud gay man." * boxer comes out gay *

But the apology seemed to have been prompted by threats of legal actn agast the boxer ma by the gay porn stud, which reportedly paid him $4, 500 for his appearance the vio.

ORLANDO CZ: 'I'M GAY, BUT I'M ALSO A BOXER. THIS IS MY TIME'

My life was pletely stroyed once had been outed that I participated a gay film. If Yaf Mack's gay porn saga were a fight, this would be the knockout former boxer is fally g clean and admtg why he performed a vio wh two other men last summer. "RELATED: Former boxer claims he was dgged for gay porn rompMack ially went public last month wh the far-fetched story of beg dgged prr to performg a heterosexual porn flick, only to disver later that he had performed a gay film.

"RELATED: Former boxer adms he lied about beg dgged for gay porn filmOn Wednday, he dropped all pretense and admted he ncted the story--and later, lied about beg bisexual--to keep people, cludg the woman he was engaged to, om disverg the tth. (ED GONSER/AP)Mack said his revelatn hasn't been well-received by some of his 10 children, pecially his 23-year-old SAM SMITH WANTS TO BE A FIGURE IN THE GAY COMMUNITY"She told me to kill myself, " he said. Featherweight boxer Orlando Cz has bee the first big-time active profsnal boxer to e out as gay.

Endorsement als are lucrative, and for someone whose e om those als and wng fights, he has more to lose than many other gay pro athlet. Sign up to our ee sport newsletter for all the latt news on everythg om cyclg to boxgSign up to our ee sport email for all the latt newsA former Olympic boxer and one of the top-ranked fighters the world has ma history by beg the first openly gay man the sport's history.

BOXG-ITALIAN BOXER TTA OUT AS GAY AFTER OLYMPIC SUCCS

Orlando Cz, a profsnal boxer om Puerto Ri wh more than two s the sport, scribed himself as "a proud gay man" as he went public wh his sexualy for the first time.

ORLANDO CZ A 'PROUD GAY MAN'

"Cz is ranked number four the world the featherweight divisn by the World Boxg Organisatn, and was part of the Puerto Ri Olympic boxg team at the 2000 Sydney announcement was hailed by gay rights mpaigners yterday, who said the fighter's cisn to e out as a gay man uld enurage more men the boxg world, and beyond, to do the same. "It is absolutely fantastic that Orlando has taken the step to bee the first openly gay boxer, " said Richard Lane, a spokman for Stonewall. "It is val that there are posive role mols sport for lbian, gay and bisexual people.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

"It tak a lot of urage to announce you're a proud openly gay Puerto Rin man, pecially wh the Lat muny where men are very mascule, and wh the homophobic world of boxg, " he told Fox Rugby legend Gareth Thomas, who beme the first openly gay profsnal gby unn player 2009, told The Inpennt: "The bravery he has shown sets a great example to others.

"From the closet: Gay sport starsGareth ThomasThe pta of the Welsh gby team and formerly s most-pped ternatnal, Thomas beme the first openly gay profsnal gby unn player when he went public wh his sexualy FashanuA top-flight footballer between 1978 and 1997, he beme the first and only English profsnal to be openly homosexual. Navratilova was her prime when she went public, and has sce been an outspoken activists for gay rights. Throughout the history of the sport, as well as every other sport, there has been gay athlet.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* BOXER COMES OUT GAY

Puerto Rin featherweight Orlando Cz out as 'proud gay man' - ESPN .

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