Cruz Control

A flurry of fists from the featherweight struck forceful blows.

The punches thrown by Orlando Cruz hit home against a greater foe than his most recent opponent Jorge Pasos. Cruz’s win struck several well placed blows for openly gay athletes in every sport.

After a statement he released earlier this October, Cruz was acknowledged as the first openly gay fighter in the history of U.S. boxing. A sport where people beat the tar out of each other for a living now is the proving grounds for a man who must battle against homosexual stereotypes in addition to other boxers.

For one night, Cruz bore the weight of a movement on his slender frame. For better or worse the ongoing battle for gay acceptance was in Cruz’s corner throughout the bout. Yet if you paid to watch his bout with Jorge Pasos, the weight of any expectations failed to slow him down.

The number four featherweight boxer hammered Pasos all evening long. Even though Cruz did not secure knockout number ten in his career, he did manage a victory by unanimous decision. Yet the most telling moment came after the fight in the post fight comments form Cruz’s opponent.

Pasos said through a translator that he tried his best but the better boxer won. There was no anti-gay slurs, no bigotry, just the mutual respect of one athlete to another.

The way it should be, but unfortunately the culture of sports is not this way.

There are very few athletes who even bother to speak out against homosexual bashing. Fewer of these athletes admit to being gay themselves. And an even smaller number of these athletes come out while they are still playing.

Cruz could have taken the route of other athletes who faced his struggle and waited until his career was over before coming out. Former NBA player John Amaechi did not admit to his sexual orientation until 2007; a good three years after he played his last game for the New York Knicks. And nobody would have blamed Cruz for waiting.

The world of professional sports is not exactly a safe haven for openly gay athletes. Amaechi, one of the biggest spokesman for gay athletes, stated in a 2002 interview that “(the fact that) there's no openly gay players is no real surprise. It would be like an alien dropping down from space. There'd be fear, then panic: they just wouldn't know how to handle it.”

But Cruz knew how to handle it. He decided to tape up his hands, weigh in, and go toe to toe against the prejudice. Words can do a great deal, yet action is the catalyst of change. Cruz coming out while still fighting garners more respect than admitting it after the fact.

Even if someone were ignorant enough to call Cruz a maricon (the Spanish word for faggot), they would not be able to diminish his accomplishments. Not to mention Cruz could most likely knock out John Doe the bigot.

But for one night, Cruz showed everyone who paid to watch his bout a glimpse of what sports is all about. A performance based on one fighter landing more punches against his opponent rather than being defined by race, gender, or sexual orientation.

There is still a ways to go before Cruz’s fight becomes the norm, yet thanks to him, we are closer to making that dream a reality.