Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen out as gay a first for US-based pro leagu

the first gay boxer

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

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ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS

* the first gay boxer *

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.

HOW A 1979 BOXG MATCH BEME THE FIGHT OF MARV GAYE’S LIFE

In 1979, Marv Gaye was spiralg. He thought a fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and a fast-risg boxer named Andy Price uld save him * the first gay boxer *

" 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.

BRA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXER WANTS TO FIGHT TER TROLLS WHO JUDGE HIM ONLEMIKE TURNER SAYS HE'S KEEN TO GET BACK THE RG AFTER WNG HIS MOST RECENT FIGHT - AND WANTS TO TAKE ON THE TROLLSWALONLEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYSTEPHANIE WAREHAMNETWORK CONTENT EDOR10:13, 7 SEP 2022UPDATED11:53, 16 SEP 2022BOOKMARKMIKE TURNER HAS ALREADY UNRGONE ONE OF THE BIGGT OPPORTUNI OF HIS LIFE SO FAR WHEN HE PETED AT THE MR GAY ENGLAND PETN AT ALNWICK CASTLE ON AUGT 20 (IMAGE: ADAM HUGH/SWNS)KEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 KEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

In the rg wh the velveteers, the heavy hters of New York’s first all-gay boxg class. * the first gay boxer *

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.

" 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.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Founr Mart Stark plans to hold the first World Gay Boxg Champnships Sydney, Atralia 2023 wh a number of LGBTQ fight nights the lead up. * the first gay boxer *

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.

Through his journey boxg, Stark has e to anize the World Gay Boxg Champnships (WGBC), the world’s first LGBTQI+ boxg tournament, which will be held Sydney 2023. As well as troducg the sport to a whole new dience, Stark hop that the WGBC n “dispt homophobia, transphobia, hatred sport.

THE WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS LOOK TO ‘DISPT’ HOMOPHOBIA SPORTS

“And I thk that’s where my whole spir of clivy om – bee of what other people have achieved and for me, my anizatn, we’re very much around the grassroots and amatr level, but we want to dispt homophobia, transphobia, hatred sport.

PUERTO RIN ORLANDO CZ IS FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXER

He did have dreams of boxg at the 2022 Gay Gam, but the sport was elimated om the upg gam – postponed until 2023 bee of the ronavis panmic.

“There have been very few out profsnal gay male boxers who have won major champnships, ” he explaed.

Like the Bgham Cup – a biennial, ternatnal, non-profsnal, gay gby unn tournament – he hop that the WGBC n enurage young members of the LGBTQI+ muny wh an tert boxg to try the sport. But as well as enuragg engagement wh the sweet science, Stark hop he n have an effect on stoppg homophobia and transphobia sport. Acrdg to one study, 80 percent of the more than 12, 000 participants om across the world have wnsed or experienced homophobia sports.

BOXG TRAGEDY SPIR OPERA ABOUT GAY BOXER

The study also found that 78 percent of the participants believed that an openly gay person would not be very safe as a spectator at a sportg event.

EE GRIFFH: BOXER KILLED OPPONENT WHO LLED HIM GAY

"I have to w whether he is gay or not, but I don't thk about that, " Pazos said. And Price’s rner, amid the televisn meras and cigar smoke, sat Price’s manager, Marv Gaye, feelg like his whole life was on the le.

Gaye often spoke boxg metaphors, and 1979 — the wake of a stly divorce om his first wife, tranged om his send, gripped by e addictn, and badly bt to the IRS — the image of the pummeled prizefighter beme particularly potent to him. Highly petive and seemgly lnal about his abili — never md that the whole thg was meant to be a lark — Gaye was tent on actually boxg Ali. In preparatn for the Ali “fight, ” Gaye traed at the Hoover Street Gym South Central Los Angel.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE FIRST GAY BOXER

In the rg wh Velvet Glov: New York’s first all-gay boxg class .

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