Orlando Cruz (born July 1, 1981) is a Puerto Rican

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, he represented Puerto Rico at the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Biography

On October 4, 2012, Cruz officially came out in an interview with Jessi Losada from ''

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

''.Feliciano Ortiz, Raúl J., and Eddy Francisco Alvarez. “‘And in the Rainbow Corner’: Orlando Cruz and Performances of Masculinity, Homonormativity, and Liberation.” ''Latino Studies'', November 19, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-022-00392-1. Scholars who studied his coming-out interviews, describe how Cruz’s coming-out process was influenced by factors like homophobia and toxic masculinity as he navigated his masculinity and sexuality in the media. In doing so, he became the first boxer to come out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

while still active professionally, stating that "I have and will always be a proud Puerto Rican. I have always been and always will be a proud gay man". He won his first fight since coming out on October 20, 2012. He was among the first class of inductees into the

National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame The National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame was a hall of fame established in 2013 to honor LGBT and allied personalities, as well as organizations "whose achievements and efforts have enhanced sports and athletics for the gay and lesbian co ...

on August 2, 2013. In July 2016, Orlando Cruz dedicated his match with Alejandro Valdez to the gay citizens murdered at the

Pulse nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse (nightclub), Pulse, a gay bar, gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a thr ...

in Florida. Nearly half the victims were Puerto Rican, and Cruz lost four friends in this tragedy. At the weigh-in for the match, Cruz proudly wore a pair of rainbow-striped briefs, and the bell tolled once for each of the forty-nine victims killed in the shooting.Orlando Cruz Fights to Become Boxing’s First Openly Gay Champion
/ref> In an interview with ''El Vocero'', Cruz claimed that he did not plan on retiring anytime soon and told Puerto Rican paper editors about his plans to continue making history. “At 35-years-old—I feel great. I know my opponent will come to fight but I am prepared and ready for victory and then to be crowned world champion. I’m focused on becoming the only gay world champion in boxing history."Today In Gay History: Orlando Cruz Came Out As the First Openly Gay Boxer
/ref> Cruz wanted to become the first openly gay world boxing champion, and stated so in multiple interviews. He claimed the WBO North American Boxing Organization super featherweight title, but during the eighth round of World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Lightweight championship match in November 2016, he lost to the undefeated Terry Flanagan.Orlando Cruz Loses Bout to Become First Openly Gay World Boxing Champion
/ref> After the fight, UK trainer Peter Fury (who at the time was the trainer of his nephew Tyson Fury) stated in a now-deleted tweet “That’s the difference between real men & half of something else.” Later, after being criticised for his comment, he tweeted “Don't worry about my position. Fighting men I want to see. Not something else! #BOXING” (7:08 PM November 26, 2016). Cruz offered Fury no response, instead tweeting “gracias por tu trato, apoyo y respeto dios te bendiga, de eso se trata caemos nos levantamos con más fuerza” (translation: “thank you for your treatment, support and respect god bless you, that's what it's about we fall we get up stronger”) on November 28, 2016 1:36 PM.Trolls punch out boxer Orlando Cruz after he loses shot at world championship
/ref> Despite this match and its resulting homophobia, the Puerto Rican boxer remains an active LGBTQ fighter. At the LGBT Ricans Conference at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, Orlando Cruz revealed the emotional pain he endured when he came out to his father as a teenager. His mother was supportive immediately, but his father was supposedly disgusted and refused to speak with him for a year. After years of tension, his father supposedly regretted his actions, and the Puerto Rican boxer now refers to his father as not only his father but also his best friend. Both his mother and father attended Cruz’s wedding to his partner, Jose Manuel Colon, in Central Park in 2013. In 2017, Cruz was featured as part of a campaign launched by

Lululemon lululemon athletica inc. (; styled in all lowercase) is a Canadian multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States. It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and ot ...

(an athletic apparel company) exploring masculinity and strength through a series of short videos. The ad campaign, titled ‘Strength to Be’, aimed to challenge traditional stereotypes of masculinity by featuring five men touching upon what masculinity and what it means for them. Cruz’s video features him talking about coming out while still being a professional boxer.Lululemon’s First Men’s Campaign Features LGBTQ Trailblazers
/ref> During Summer 2018, he was honored as Grand Marshall for the

Chicago Pride Parade The Chicago Pride Parade, also colloquially (and formerly) called the Chicago Gay Pride Parade or PRIDE Chicago, is the annual pride parade held on the last Sunday of June in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It is considered the ...

and “

Cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

King” for the People’s Puerto Rican Parade.

Career

Cruz made his professional debut on December 15, 2000, against Alfredo Valdez in Puerto Rico. He was undefeated until 2009, when he lost to

Cornelius Lock Cornelius Eugene Lock (born December 12, 1978) is an American professional boxer and a former WBO– NABO featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestlin ...

by TKO. Cruz is currently ranked at No. 4 among featherweights by the

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

(WBO). He has been described by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

as having "quick hands and feet" and "moves well and punches in flashy combinations."

Professional record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 25 Wins (12 Knockouts), 6 Defeats (3 Knockouts), 1 Draw , - style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Res. , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Rd., Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 25–6–2 , align=left, Lamont Roach Jr. , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 25–6–1 , align=left, José López , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 25–5–1 , align=left, Terry Flanagan , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 25–4–1 , align=left, Gabino Cota , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 24–4–1 , align=left, Alejandro Valdez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 23–4–1 , align=left, Romulo Koasicha , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 22–4–1 , align=left, Gabino Cota , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 21–4–1 , align=left, Edwin Lopez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 20–4–1 , align=left, Gamalier Rodriguez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 20–3–1 , align=left,

Orlando Salido Orlando Salido Rivera (born November 16, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He is a multiple-time former world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF featherweight title in 2010; the WBO fe ...

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 20–2–1 , align=left, Aalan Martinez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 19–2–1 , align=left, Jorge Pazos , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 18–2–1 , align=left, Alejandro Delgado , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 17–2–1 , align=left, Michael Franco , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 16–2–1 , align=left,

Daniel Ponce de León Daniel Ponce de León (born July 27, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He was a world champion two weight classes, having held the WBO super bantamweight title from 2005 and 2008, and the WBC featherw ...

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 16–1–1 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 16–0–1 , align=left, Leonilo Miranda , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 15–0–1 , align=left, Carlos Guevara , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 14–0–1 , align=left, Wilfredo Acuna , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 13–0–1 , align=left, Jesús Salvador Pérez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 13–0 , align=left, Armando Córdoba , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 12–0 , align=left, Ricardo Medina , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 11–0 , align=left, Francisco Huerta , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 10–0 , align=left, Juan Ramón Cruz , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 9–0 , align=left, Ricardo Barrera , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 8–0 , align=left, Pedro Rincón Miranda , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 7–0 , align=left, Osvaldo Cedeño , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 6–0 , align=left, Michael Connolly , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 5–0 , align=left, Javier Hernández , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 4–0 , align=left, Alberto Cepeda , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 3–0 , align=left, Willie Thomas , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Eugenio Ventura , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Alfredo Valdez , , , , align=left, , align=left,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Orlando Living people 1981 births Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics LGBT boxers Olympic boxers of Puerto Rico Gay men Gay sportsmen People from Yabucoa, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican male boxers Puerto Rican LGBT sportspeople Lightweight boxers

Biography

Career

Professional record

See also

References