Holyfield "Beats" Romney In Two Rounds

Via Fox News:

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and five-time heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield squared off in the ring Friday at a charity fight night event in Salt Lake City. Romney, 68, and Holyfield, 52, sparred, if you could call it that, for just two short rounds before Romney ran away from the boxer and threw in the towel, giving up a round early in the lighthearted fight that came amid several other fights by professional boxers and an auction. The two barely threw any punches and largely just danced around, occasionally lightly jabbing each other in the midsection in what was much more of a comedic event than an actual bout. The black-tie affair raised money for the Utah-based organization CharityVision, which helps doctors in developing countries perform surgeries to restore vision in people with curable blindness.

Romney Vs Holyfield: The Weigh-In

Via NBC News:

In this corner, weighing in at 236 pounds: Evander Holyfield, the former heavyweight champion of the world. And in this corner, weighing in at 179 pounds — Mitt Romney? The former Republican presidential nominee? Relax. It's for a good cause: They're stepping into the ring Friday night in Salt Lake City to raise money for Charity Vision, which fights blindness in some of the poorest countries in the world. "You've heard my critics say that I'm out of touch. That I'm stiff. That I just don't relate to people," Romney deadpans in a promotional video. "For years I've been listening to garbage like that. And I've decided to fight back."

Chess Boxing: It's A Thing

Don King Goes Off The Rails On CNN

Boxing promoter Don King appeared on CNN today, ostensibly to talk about newly-released FBI documents which claim that the mafia fixed the famous 1964 bout between Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali. What the CNN hosts got, however, was a raving flag-waving man who never stopped shouting and who talked incessantly over their attempt to escape to another story. Twitter has been buzzing for the last hour.

Orlando Cruz Marries In Central Park

Michael Lavers reports at Washington Blade:

New York City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito, who is among the frontrunners to succeed outgoing New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in the position, officiated the ceremony. Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Shirley Casiano were witnesses. Cruz in Oct. 2012 became the first active professional boxer to come out as gay. He wore trunks with a Puerto Rican flag in rainbow colors during his match against Mexican boxer Orlando Salido in Las Vegas last month for the WBO featherweight championship. Salido knocked Cruz out in the seventh round.

Orlando Cruz KO'd In 7th Round

Boxing Insider reports:

Orlando Cruz is a southpaw and he did not make eye contact with Salido during introductions. Salido is a notoriously slow starter but he did not start slow tonight. Salido was warned for the first of multiple times in the first round for low blows. Cruz was sticking and moving early with his jab but Salido did well when we he went to the body. The second and third rounds were tight and tough but Salido was the man who was landing the much harder punches. The crowd could be heard chanting “Puta, Puta” in the third round. Cruz was landing some decent shots but Salido was not visibly bothered by Cruz’s punches. Cruz had his best round of the night in the fifth. Salido was able to turn the fight back in his favor in the fifth round by going to the body again and was extremely aggressive. The end came in the seventh round when Salido was landing some hard uppercuts. A right hook left uppercut combination sent Cruz to the mat for the full count of ten.

Gay Boxer Orlando Cruz Weighs In For Tonight's World Championship Title

Orlando Cruz weighed in for the bout wearing rainbow briefs and will wear rainbow trunks during the fight. He spoke to the Guardian about tonight's featherweight world title match.

Cruz understands how this fight will smudge the boundaries between the personal and professional. He even implies that Salido, as a Mexican, might be troubled by facing a gay fighter. "My coming out made it harder for him. He will have it in his mind that he's fighting a homosexual for the world title." Is he suggesting Salido might be homophobic? "He's professional with me but Mexicans often have something homophobic in them. It's the machismo culture. He won't want to lose to a gay man. Salido will be much more aggressive. He will want to make a statement because I'm gay. But he'll fall into the trap by being macho. I'll let him come at me, and I'll show him then. The only language I will use is spoken by my fists. They will do my talking."

The Bleacher Report is predicting that the slightly bigger Salido will win. Cruz is 5'4" and weighs 125 pounds.

Salido has a two-inch height and reach advantage, but Cruz is clearly the quicker, slicker boxer. The major question to be answered in this fight is whether Cruz can hurt Salido with single shots. El Fenomeno doesn’t throw a lot of combinations. This could be an issue, considering Salido’s counter-punching prowess. Throwing one shot at a time will make him easier to counter and time. This will only increase Salido's aggressiveness. If Cruz can’t slow the former champion's pursuit, stamina could become a problem later in the fight.

The fight will air at 9pm ET/6pm PT on HBO Pay-Per-View. (Photo via Andres Duque.)

Gay Boxer Orlando Cruz To Don Rainbow Trunks For World Championship Bout

This Saturday recently-out boxer Orlando Cruz will fight for the world featherweight title in Las Vegas. Pictured above is his planned gear for the match. Via Yahoo Sports:

It is, by far, the biggest stage that Cruz has had for one of his bouts. To take advantage of the exposure, Cruz plans to wear pink boxing gloves and a pink-trimmed ring jacket to help show support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But Cruz, boxing's first openly gay fighter, will also wear rainbow-colored trunks, to support the LGBT movement. The rainbow flag is a symbol of the movement and was created in 1978 in San Francisco to urge inclusiveness for all. Everlast made the trunks and the gloves in collaboration with Cruz.

Cruz will marry his boyfriend next month in New York. (I don't recommend reading the comments at the link)

Out Boxer Orlando Cruz Gets Engaged

USA Today has the news:

Featherweight Orlando Cruz made headlines last October when he announced he was gay. By making the announcement, in which he declared himself a “proud gay man,” he became the first openly gay male professional boxer. Cruz also grabbed the public’s attention this week, or at least the attention of his followers on Facebook, when he proposed to his longtime boyfriend José Manuel with a video message posted to the social media site. Cruz will fight for the vacant WBO featherweight world title on October 12 against Orlando Salido in Las Vegas. Manuel responded to the video with a heartfelt video of his own, in which he accepted the proposal.

Cruz' boxing nickname is The Phenomenon. (Via Towleroad)

FLORIDA: Orlando Cruz Wins Second Bout As Openly Gay Boxer

Featherweight pro boxer Orlando Cruz has won his second match since coming out. Andres Duque reports at Blabbeando:

During the fight he wore a multicolor boxing kilt with Puerto Rican flags on both sides. One of the flags was red, white and blue, the other flag's stripes reflected the color of the rainbow as a sign of gay pride. This is the second fight he wins after becoming the first active professional boxer to ever come out as a gay man back in October. As in the last fight, his mother was at the side of the boxing ring shouting encouragement throughout the fight. The venue was filled to capacity and attendees seemed to be overwhelmingly on Cruz's side throughout the fight.

After the match, Cruz tweeted: "To my work team, Puerto Rico, the LGBT community, my people from Quintana and my family: Thanks for being there and being part of my life. I love you and carry you with me."