Orlando Cz: The gay boxer who is breakg barriers | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

first gay boxer

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 COM OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY PROFSNAL 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 * first gay boxer *

Cz has e out as the first openly gay active profsnal boxer the sport’s history. “I have always been and always will be a proud gay man, ” he said a public announcement on the eveng of Oct.

(PHOTOS: A Visual History of the Gay-Rights Movement). He says he has enuntered homophobia the boxg world, but he cl to elaborate on the form that the discrimatn took.

(MORE: Olympic Homophobia: Why Are There So Few Openly Gay Athlet? But while g out is a personal cisn, there are wir benefs to dog so, says Cyd Zeigler Jr., print of Outsports, the Web hub for the gay sports muny. “When gay athlet e out of the closet and straight athlet e out support of gay rights, those actns and those words have a reverberatg effect.

ORLANDO CZ: THE GAY BOXER WHO IS BREAKG BARRIERS

Openly gay men rema an unsurprisg rary the sular, clannish and ocsnally juvenile world of profsnal sport. The few who have chosen to e out have tend to do so at or near the end of their reer, like gby's Gareth Thomas and the former NBA star John Amaechi. Consir then the urage of Orlando Cz to announce himself a "proud gay man" profsnal boxg jt a fortnight before his next fight." name="scriptn * first gay boxer *

The eye-openg is particularly te for a sport like boxg, which Zeigler says is, along wh football, “probably the last place you would thk there would be an openly gay athlete. And stereotyp work both ways: media portrayals of gay people n often be domated by clichés that uld be knocked out by men like Orlando Cz.

Zeigler says that, as a kid, he thought he uldn’t possibly be gay bee he didn’t like “Broadway and Cher and Madonna. ” An athlete who was both tough and gay his public life would have been — as Cz hop to be — a good role mol. “There’s probably still this ia for other athlet that they don’t want to get beaten by a gay man, but gay people are everywhere.

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.

WORLD'S FIRST GAY BOXER? CZ OUT AND PROUD

* first gay 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. "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.

GAY BOXER PROPOS TO BOYIEND AFTER WNG HIS FIRST MATCH

The featherweight om Puerto Ri says he's a 'proud gay man' * 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. "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.

PUERTO RIN ORLANDO CZ IS FIRST OPENLY GAY BOXER

Gay boxer Anthony Ash proposed to his boyiend the rg to the light of cheerg fans. * first gay boxer *

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.

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

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. "I have to w whether he is gay or not, but I don't thk about that, " Pazos said. 38amOpenly gay men rema an unsurprisg rary the sular, clannish and ocsnally juvenile world of profsnal sport.

Consir then the urage of Orlando Cz to announce himself a "proud gay man" profsnal boxg jt a fortnight before his next fight. The 31-year-old Puerto Rin, ranked the fourth-bt featherweight on the pla, is believed to be the first male profsnal boxer to publicly announce he is 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!

I have always been and always will be a proud gay man. There have been several openly gay female fighters, most notably the Amerin Christy Mart, one of the most famo women her sport. A gay Brish man, Charl Jon, boxed briefly unr the rg name the Pk Pounr but he was a middle-aged archect and hobby fighter.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* FIRST GAY BOXER

Gay boxer Anthony Ash propos to boyiend the rg after a match - Outsports .

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