The country’s first
openly gay boxer will take to the ring to honor the memory of those
killed in the June
12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Orlando Cruz,
who came
out in 2012, will face off against Alejandro “Alex’’ Valdez, three days
after the one-month anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting that left
49 people dead and 53 more injured, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The July 15 fight will take
place in Kissimmee, Florida, roughly 30 minutes from the nightclub.
The boxer, 35,
will be a part of a 49-bell salute to each of the Pulse victims, and is set to
wear a pair of specially-designed trunks as a tribute. “It is a surprise,”
he said of the design in a July 9 interview with the Sentinel.
Cruz, who lives
in Puerto Rico with his husband, told BuzzFeed that he was close friends with Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, one of the Pulse shooting
victims.
“It really
affected me and made me angry to see that among so many dead was my close
friend,” he told BuzzFeed. “Gay people have rights just like
everybody else and everyone needs to realize that we deserve to live openly and
happy.”
On Tuesday,
Cruz visited the memorial that has been erected outside of
Pulse. Photos of the boxer kneeling beside the makeshift shrine were posted on
Twitter.
After his visit
to Pulse on Tuesday, Cruz announced that he was helping to launch a Latino
voting awareness campaign in Florida, according to BuzzFeed.
The boxer has
said he felt both sad and angry in the days after the shooting.
“I am very
angry because people are homophobic, so they attacked my community,” he told
the Sentinel. “They attacked me.”
Hooray for Mr. Cruz! Good job publishing this! Love and naked hugs!
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