Openly gay boxer Yaf Mack fights homophobe | Daily Mail Onle

Contents:

• ORLANDO CZ FIGHTS TO BEE BOXG’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHAMPN
• ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS
• GAY BOXER PROPOS TO BOYIEND AFTER WNG HIS FIRST MATCH
• BOXER GAYS VS. GAY BOXERS
• OPENLY GAY BOXER YAF MACK FIGHTS HOMOPHOBE
• EE GRIFFH, WHO FAMOLY KILLED FELLOW BOXER AFTER GAY SLUR, DI AT 75
• THE WORLD GAY BOXG CHAMPNSHIPS LOOK TO ‘DISPT’ HOMOPHOBIA SPORTS

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.

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. 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.

GAY BOXER PROPOS TO BOYIEND AFTER WNG HIS FIRST MATCH

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.

BOXER GAYS VS. GAY BOXERS

"Boxg n be a macho sport and I have heard some gay slurs, " says Cz.

OPENLY GAY BOXER YAF MACK FIGHTS HOMOPHOBE

"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?

" 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.

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

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. Throughout the history of the sport, as well as every other sport, there has been gay athlet. Wh boxg, this beg such a gladiator-que, mascule sport, ’s difficult to picture a gay boxer.

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

Many may have var opns on the matter and many believe a gay boxer is not threateng by any means. Theoretilly speakg, what if the badst man on the pla, “Iron” Mike Tyson was gay?

Would you still be aaid of Tyson if he was gay?

Comg off the heels of the Missouri Universy, fensive end, Michael Sam suatn, we generally do not see athlet open up about their homosexualy.

On Augt 9th, 2012, Nila Adams also beme first openly Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr (LGBT) athlete to w an Olympic boxg Gold medal, after her w at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Former Olympian and current featherweight tle ntenr Orlando Cz, is an openly gay fighter. On October 4th, 2012, Cz beme the first boxer to e out as gay while still active profsnally.