Orlando Cruz gets first win since "coming out"!

It's fair to say that it has been an eventful month for Puerto Rican featherweight Orlando Cruz. A couple of weeks ago he made headlines in almost every newspaper for becoming the first openly-gay active boxer. But last night he made the headlines for a reason no doubt he'd much rather prefer... The 31-year old cruised to victory in front of a slightly bigger crowd than usual.

Cruz dominated Mexican Jorge Pazos over twelve rounds in their Telemundo headliner at the Kissimmee Civic Center. The judges scorecards were 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111 all in favour of Cruz. 

This was an important fight for Cruz. There were huge amounts of press, and fans, there compared to his previous fights. This was his chance to prove that no matter what his background, preferences or lifestyle, he can still fight just as good as most other boxers out there. And that is exactly what he did...

The Puerto Rican southpaw controlled the pace and kept his aggressive come-forward style opponent at a distance throughout most of the fight. He was not forced into the fight that his opponent and maybe even some of the fans wanted it to be. He used his brain and boxed smartly. 

There were a few occassions when Pazos closed the gap and piled the pressure on, but it wasn't enough to even slow Cruz down. As the crowd started to become a little restless towards the end of the fight, Cruz showed courage, planted his feet and chose to trade. This probably wasn't the smartest idea but the crowd loved the action. 

Cruz now has a record of 19-2-1 with 9 KO's and is looking to move higher up in the rankings and take part in much bigger fights in the next few years.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.