As a former boxing journalist and die hard fan of the noble art, I’m always saddened by what goes on in the sport. It’s a corrupt business that trades in human blood and pain, leaving its athletes more often than not physically broken, and broke. But every now and then, there are moments of joy that lift the sport to heights no other could ever attain. As George Foreman once said, “Boxing is the sport that all other sports aspire to.” And the story of Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz coming out as gay is one of those moments. Cruz is the first active professional male to reveal his homosexuality, an act of bravery that trumps any performance in the ring. As Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports writes:

No doubt, Cruz will face ridicule and scorn from those who are involved in the testosterone-addled sport he loves, much like the great Jackie Robinson did when he broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. It may hurt Cruz in the rankings. Judges may quietly score against him. Some foes might not want to fight him.

Worst, of course, will be the verbal taunts he’ll receive from some factions of the fan base. They’ll feel the need to prove their machismo by denouncing Cruz for his sexual orientation.

Boxing is as macho a sport as they come, and for a boxer to come out takes some serious self confidence. Cruz hopes he can become a role model, believing his willingness to come out will give a lot of confused kids hope about what they can achieve. He said in a statement:

“I don’t want to hide any of my identities. I want people to look at me for the human being that I am. I am a professional sportsman [who] always brings his best to the ring. I want for people to continue to see me for my boxing skills, my character, my sportsmanship.

“But I also want kids who suffer from bullying to know that you can be whoever you want to be in life, including a professional boxer [and] that anything is possible and that who you are or whom you love should not be impediment to achieving anything in life…..went I am and will always be a proud Puerto Rican gay man.”

Bravo Orlando. Let’s hope he paves the way for others in the sport to be themselves so that they can be judged on their fighting ability, not their sexuality.

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There’s no doubt that Usain Bolt it the main man of the Olympics – he’s the fasted man on the planet and probably the most recognized athlete around. Having annihilated the competition to win his event in an astonishing 9.63 seconds (only 0.05 slower than his world record of 9.58 seconds), Bolt has been hunted down by every TV network at the Olympics for an interview. But Bolt, an easy going and extremely good natured guy, is not one to let his amazing success get in the way of other athlete’s glory. Check out this classy moment where Bolt halts an interview to pay respect to the medal giving ceremony of fellow Jamaican Sanya Richards-Ross:

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Body Building: A very weird culture (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A hilarious article by Hamilton Nolan in Gawker takes a look at the very weird culture in body building. Key quote:

I distinctly recall being in the gym one weekend years ago and watching one huge hulking bodybuilder smile and laugh as his slightly shorter, runtier bodybuilder sidekick/ weed carrier recounted how he, the sidekick, had rushed out to buy the big guy some Pedialyte early one Saturday morning when big guy woke up and found that his muscles were momentarily without their literal baby food, which must be had at precise hourly intervals. Just a couple of 240 pound guys giggling ’bout fetching baby food for one another, that’s all. It was one of the most disconcerting sights I’d ever seen. Had they been a gay couple, or adult babies, it would have made perfect sense. It would have been sweet, even. But these were exactly the types of dudes who, if anyone insinuated that they possessed even the slightest hint of gayness, would have raged and rended their garments and thrown weights into the gym mirrors and gnashed their teeth and ripped pieces of metal off of the gym equipment and eaten that metal, with their teeth, right then, no homo.

I used to do a bit of body building as a teenager then realized how completely pointless it was compared to doing functional exercise or an actual sport. Plus, getting big muscles just looks ridiculous. I genuinely believe that serious body builders suffer from severe body image issues and are compensating for other perceived inadequacies. I’ve trained in boxing and other Martial Arts pretty much my whole life, and cannot count the number of times an ultra aggressive muscle bound idiot has come into the gym thinking he can beat up on everyone simply because he is bigger than everyone else. It almost always results in serious humiliation for the body builder as he painfully finds out that being able to bicep curl a small child does not translate into being able to take (or give) a punch. This is not to say that lifting weights and eating healthily isn’t good, but taken to an extreme like most body builders do is, at least in my opinion, an indication of quite serious insecurities.

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I have never written about boxing on The Daily Banter before as I have reserved the site almost exclusively for politics (bar the odd snarky piece on celebrity culture). I'm making an exception today due to the sad passing of one of my heroes, the legendary heavyweight Joe Frazier who died last night due to liver cancer.

I reported on boxing for several years and have long been completely obsessed with the sport and its fascinating characters. While the business is often corrupt and brutal, the sport of boxing is competition in its purest form, and you will never meet a more honest person than a fighter, and I know because I have met many of them. Boxers deal in reality and can never afford to lie to themselves. Without acknowledging the truth, a fighter can never get better. The ring is an unforgiving place where flaws are exposed ruthlessly and there is no one else to blame other than yourself. To rise to the top in a sport like boxing, you need to have uncommon qualities – qualities Joe Frazier had in abundance.

Fighters are a unique breed of people – the best having a complex mixture of intelligence, raw instinct, and incredible bravery. Joe Frazier epitomized all of the above and more, a fighter so well regarded in the boxing world that his arch nemesis Muhammed Ali called him "A real, real fighter; the toughest man in the world”. Frazier was forever defined by his fights with Ali, beating him the first time they met, and losing the other two. They boxed 41 rounds together over three epic fights, the last, a vicious encounter in Manila, putting both men close to the point of death. Frazier, blind in both eyes having taken 14 rounds of brutal punishment would not quit, forcing his trainer Eddie Futch to tell him 'Sit down son, it's all over. No one will ever forget what you did here today'. No one did, and Frazier is not just remembered for his victory over Ali, but his sheer resilience in defeat.

Frazier would always give it his all in the ring – he would never compromise, never back down and never give up on himself. He was defined by his fights with Ali, and Ali was defined by his fights with Frazier. Both men are regarded as great fighters largely because they fought each other.

Great fighters are only considered great when they face and overcome adversity. Frazier fought so many wars in the ring and came back from so many beatings that it is hard to think of another fighter equal in heart and courage. Few in boxing history can be mentioned in the same sentence as Joe Frazier, and his determination to overcome odds and willingness to push himself beyond human limits will echo in the sports history forever. 

Rest in Peace Joe. You deserve it.

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It might be MTV, but this truly is an amazing moment. A black, gay rugby player at Ohio State University comes out to his team mates in front of cameras, and in effect, the nation.

I don't think the effect of this type of bravery can be underestimated – an act like this will give millions of young and troubled gay people confidence that they too can come out and be themselves. 

Bravo.

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