Wasn't Emile Griffith the first openly gay boxer?

[#1Assassin]

If I'm not mistaken Kid Chocolate, the all time great Featherweight out of Cuba - who was 55-0-1 when he finally lost to Jack "Kid" Berg in 1930 - openly led a gay life in Paris after his retirement.

I could be wrong but I remember reading an article around the time of his death (1988) in a British publication. Fidel Castro disowned him over it but it wasn't a big deal in Western Europe.

And nor should it be anywhere.

Anyway, it seems to be a trend among boxers from the Caribbean. Every 30 or 40 years one pops up as regular as clockwork

thats not true at all. about kid chocolate or about some trend, two ppl out of thousands over the course of over a hundred years is hardly a trend.

[taansend]

That was Panama Al Brown actually.

Thanks Mate. Damn my fuzzy old brain.

Apart from the names was the gay part & Paris correct though?

[taansend]

thats not true at all. ..... about some trend, two ppl out of thousands over the course of over a hundred years is hardly a trend.

I know. It's obviously a piss take, you muppet.

Did you seriously think it was anything else?

[SBleeder]

Seriously, I'm sure there's some obscure 4-round fighter out there who "came out" before Cruz did.

Oh, and Oscar is the first open fishnet lover in boxing.

[RubenSonny]

Thanks Mate. Damn my fuzzy old brain.

Apart from the names was the gay part & Paris correct though?

Yeah he lived and fought there, I'm not entirely sure if he was confirmed gay but it was heavily rumored that he was in a relationship with Jean Cocteau.

[SBleeder]

Yeah he lived and fought there, I'm not entirely sure if he was confirmed gay but it was heavily rumored that he was in a relationship with Jean Cocteau.

Jacques Cousteau? Being on a submarine for that long would make anyone experiment.

[taansend]

Yeah he lived and fought there, I'm not entirely sure if he was confirmed gay but it was heavily rumored that he was in a relationship with Jean Cocteau.

Thanks Mate. I remember reading the article. I think it was in Boxing Monthly by their excellent worldwide correspondent. But it would have been 20 or so years ago.

To be honest I really don't care one way or the other about another persons sexuality. It's none of my business.

[Humean]

RubenSonny is right about it being Panama Al Brown, it seems Jean Cocteau was Brown's manager for a while also. Strange sideline for a poet and playwright.

[greynotsoold]

A good friend of mine sparred many rounds with Griffith, preparing him for bouts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. People knew he was gay, but nobody talked about it.
Shame that nobody mentions that he would beat Leonard, Duran, DeLa Hoya, Trinidad, Mayweather or Pac at 147.

[rightsideup]

A good friend of mine sparred many rounds with Griffith, preparing him for bouts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. People knew he was gay, but nobody talked about it.
Shame that nobody mentions that he would beat Leonard, Duran, DeLa Hoya, Trinidad, Mayweather or Pac at 147.

I think leonard would have given him a hard time