[7] In July 2016, Orlando Cruz dedicated his match with Alejandro Valdez to the gay citizens murdered at the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida.
At the weigh-in for the match, Cruz proudly wore a pair of rainbow-striped briefs, and the bell tolled once for each of the forty-nine victims killed in the shooting.
He claimed the WBO North American Boxing Organization super featherweight title, but during the eighth round of World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Lightweight championship match in November 2016, he lost to the undefeated Terry Flanagan.
Cruz offered Fury no response, instead tweeting “gracias por tu trato, apoyo y respeto dios te bendiga, de eso se trata caemos nos levantamos con más fuerza” (translation: “thank you for your treatment, support and respect god bless you, that's what it's about we fall we get up stronger”) on November 28, 2016 1:36 PM.
[11] Despite this match and its resulting homophobia, the Puerto Rican boxer remains an active LGBTQ fighter.
[3] At the LGBT Ricans Conference at Hunter College, Orlando Cruz revealed the emotional pain he endured when he came out to his father as a teenager.
[8] Both his mother and father attended Cruz’s wedding to his partner, Jose Manuel Colon, in Central Park in 2013.
[9] In 2017, Cruz was featured as part of a campaign launched by Lululemon (an athletic apparel company) exploring masculinity and strength through a series of short videos.