Puerto Rican boxer Orlando “The
Phenomenon” Cruz will wear a pair of gay pride boxing shorts during
Saturday's world title fight.
The 32-year-old Cruz is training to
fight Mexico's Orlando Salido for the vacant WBO featherweight title.
The bout will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las
Vegas.
According to Yahoo!
Sports, Cruz, who came out last year, plans to wear
rainbow-colored trunks to support the LGBT community and pink boxing
gloves to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Earlier, Cruz announced that he was
dedicating the upcoming fight to Emile Griffith, one of the greatest
boxers in history. Griffith, who died over the summer in New York,
acknowledged that he was bisexual in an interview with Sports
Illustrated.
“I like men and women both,” he
said. “But I don't like that word: homosexual, gay or faggot. I
don't know what I am. I love men and women the same, but if you ask
me which is better … I like women.”
In March, Cruz won his second bout
since coming out while wearing a boxing kilt adorned with a Puerto
Rican flag on one side and a rainbow flag on the other. At the end
of the fight, Cruz's father entered the ring and embraced him. The
two men reportedly had been on the outs since Cruz announced he's
gay.
Win or lose, Cruz will go down in
history as the first openly gay boxer to fight for a world title.