Boxing prides itself on being a sport that’s open to anyone from any background. In a boxing ring, the sense is, everyone is equal.
But is there a blind spot in the sport when it comes to homophobia? Ahead of two major fights over the last 12 months, the final press conferences have seen fighters’ trash talk descend into unacceptable homophobic taunts.
Last month, ahead of his bout with Chris Eubank Jr, Liam Smith made such remarks. Before his fight with Kell Brook last year, Amir Khan also appeared to use homophobic language, something he later denied.
Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom admits that both Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith crossed the line with comments they made during their pre-fight press conference
They’re not the only high-profile boxers to have spoken like this. In recent years Floyd Mayweather for instance apologised for a homophobic slur he directed at Conor McGregor. Another boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao also made appalling comments, which he too apologised for afterwards.
That raises the uncomfortable question – is there a problem with homophobia in boxing?
“Absolutely,” says Don McRae, one of the finest sportswriters in the UK who’s covered boxing for three decades.
“It’s sad that we’re talking about this subject in 2023. I worked on a book, which was set in the early 60s, A Man’s World, when homosexuality was banned in all but one state in the USA,” McRae told Sky Sports.
“Even in New York it was banned. My book was about Emile Griffith who was a world champion, a fantastic boxer.
“He happened to be a gay man and he had to live a double life. But now all these 60-odd years later it still saddens me that boxing has a homophobia problem.”
Society has changed, but boxing in some aspects hasn’t changed enough.
“We know how the big fight hype leads to some unsavoury things being said. But I was just a little bit gobsmacked that Liam Smith, in an attempt to get under Eubank’s skin, started using this gay slur, in his view, as if that was demeaning to Eubank,” McRae added.
These problems appear to be bound up much more in the men’s side of the sport than in women’s boxing. Only one LGBTQ+ man who’s challenged for a world title felt he could be open about his sexuality during his career. That was Orlando Cruz, whose world title contest was nearly 10 years ago and who had his last bout in 2018.
“That felt like quite a seismic moment in boxing, that a professional fighter decided to come out. I went to Puerto Rico – which is a fantastic boxing island, when you think of all the great Puerto Rican fighters there have been – and Orlando spoke to me quite eloquently about overcoming the machismo of that culture, that Hispanic culture that is steeped in boxing and also poisoned by homophobia,” McRae recalled.
“He had the courage to come out. I was hopeful. I didn’t expect there would be a deluge of gay fighters coming out. But I did think it would sort of open things up in boxing.
“The whole build-up to [Cruz’s world title] fight it was only positive, which definitely made me think ‘this is a seminal moment that can change things for boxing’. But 10 years later, we’re no further.”
The Smith- Eubank Jr press conference was widely condemned, a sign at least that most observers were quick to see such behaviour was offensive and completely inappropriate.
Although Smith did subsequently apologise, it wasn’t clear to what degree he accepted how damaging his comments were.
Liam Smith apologised for making homophobic comments in the build-up to his fight against Chris Eubank Jr.
“We’re all used to seeing a bit of trash-talking and antagonism in the build-up to a big fight but this went in a very uncomfortable direction,” Jon Holmes of Sports Media LGBT+, an organisation that advocates for inclusion in the media and across sport in general, told Sky Sports.
“Smith really pushed insinuations and suggestions about Eubank’s sexuality and it degenerated into verbal one-upmanship that may not have ended up with slurs being thrown but certainly sparked a lot of homophobic comments on social media.
“It was irresponsible and a really bad look for men’s boxing, at a time when there is growing LGBTQ+ representation on the women’s side of the sport.
“The exchange not only gave the impression that male boxers can’t or shouldn’t be gay or bi but it also would have made people involved elsewhere in the sport – promoters, trainers, broadcasters, fans etc – who might be struggling with their sexuality feel like they need to stay closeted, something that takes a huge toll on a person’s mental health.”
The British Boxing Board of Control was inundated with complaints after that event and the boxers have been called before the Board to explain.
The Board does have the power to punish boxers for their conduct and, it’s to be hoped, use this occasion as a teachable moment of sorts.
“It’s just wrong and we’ll deal with it as best we can. As a society we need to learn and it’s just not acceptable,” Robert Smith, the general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, told Sky Sports.
Chris Eubank Jr wore a rainbow armband when he weighed in for the Liam Smith and tweeted that he wanted boxing to be an inclusive sport
“They are pretty rare in boxing. I think we’re quite a diverse sport,” he continued. “Sometimes things go wrong. People say things they shouldn’t say.
“Once we’ve dealt with that we’ll see. It’s all very well putting things in place but it’s got to be acted upon. The boxers have to behave themselves.
“We have rules and regulations, they all get them. When they’re all interviewed at the beginning of their career we talk about their responsibilities they have,” he added. “This was a complete surprise.
“We’ll deal with it, we’ll deal with shortly.
“It’s a matter of speaking to everybody. Trying to educate everybody as best you can.”
Smith did point out: “There is pressure on them from the media, from promoters etc. to try and spice things up which can be disappointing… It’s not new trying to rile your opponent.
“I’d like it to stop. I’d like people to behave themselves better.”
Smith also noted that the week after Eubank-Smith, Anthony Yarde and Artur Beterbiev “behaved fantastically”.
“I’ve not had a phone call to say how well they did,” Smith said. “I’ve had loads of phone calls to say how the other people were.”
However if the impression that the sport is out of control continues to permeate public perception, it will damage the whole of boxing.
“As I say most of my job is defending the sport as best we can, actions like that by individuals don’t help,” Smith said.
“We all have a responsibility within the sport for being as decent as we possibly can.
“We all have a responsibility and we should act upon that.”
Sports Media LGBT+’s Holmes said: “In general, the reactions to what [Liam] Smith said, and the fact Eubank wore a rainbow armband at the weigh-in and tweeted about wanting boxing to be inclusive, will already have gone a long way to shifting understanding among fighters about what they say publicly.”
However he noted: “There were still plenty of others who wanted to play down what had happened, or dismiss it altogether. Boxing media has a role to play here – it’s about telling different stories in the sport to encourage empathy.
“There’s lots of advice out there on language – Kick It Out’s resources, for example – but alongside that, what often makes a deep impact is learning about someone else’s story and how incidents of discrimination have affected them, as well as the benefits of finding an inclusive sports environment.”
There have been efforts to make the sport more inclusive at grassroots level. The Rathbone amateur boxing club ran a ‘Proud to Fight Together’ programme to encourage LGBTQ+ people to try out boxing.
“We thought it was important to let people know that boxing clubs are not scary places. Everyone is welcome. This was just about reaching out to a group of people who probably wouldn’t ordinarily consider boxing. Or necessarily feel comfortable going to what is, sometimes wrongly, perceived as a macho environment,” Rathbone’s Rachel Bower told Sky Sports.
Bower, 40, has been at the heart of the UK amateur boxing scene for 17 years, first as a boxer and now a coach.
“This was just about getting people into the gym. They do this, they feel comfortable and then if they want to compete, if they want to actually be an amateur boxer then they do just join in the sessions with everyone else,” she said.
It was popular. That demonstrated there is a need for programmes like this.
“We wanted people to know that actually if you are considering competing, if you do like the sport and you’d like to join an amateur club then there are clubs out there that will welcome you,” Bower added.
“My club isn’t the only club to do things like this. There’s loads of clubs out there who are welcoming and will let people know that they’re welcoming. A lot of this is perceived barriers as well, and it might be things like language used that we just don’t think about.”
Also, change when it happens can come quickly.
On Rainbow Laces Day, Jamie Weir caught up with boxers Lauren Price and Karriss Artingstall, who are role models in the sport
Women were only allowed to box at an Olympic Games for the first time in 2012, scarcely 10 years ago. Before that breakthrough moment finding amateur clubs that coached female boxers, that had the right facilities (i.e. more than one changing room), wasn’t always easy.
“This was the position that women were in only a few years ago, and you can just see the amount of people who are now in the sport that they’re really cutting out a lot of people,” Bower said.
“There are a lot of gay women in boxing and a lot of gay women that are role models in boxing as well. I think it’s a lot harder for men.
“We really cannot have these old fashioned, closed mindsets. Not only is it wrong but we are missing out on having people involved in our clubs and people becoming champions because they don’t feel welcome.”
There are significant role models in the sport. Lauren Price and Karriss Artingstall are partners, they won Olympic medals together and are now rising stars in the professional sport. Cindy Ngamba trains alongside them on the GB squad and boxes internationally on the Fair Chance refugee team.
Ngamba is a refugee because of the discrimination and violence LGBTQ+ people are subjected to in Cameroon. For her Price and Artingstall are training partners but they represent something greater as well.
“Both of them are gay too, that in itself, I feel comfortable in a way,” she told Sky Sports. “Not only are they athletes but also they are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“We’re all the same on GB, we’re all a team, we’re all a family and we’re all trying to achieve.
“We’re all trying to achieve the same things.”
Since Orlando Cruz’s retirement, men’s boxing hasn’t had a similarly high-profile role model.
Although amateur boxer Morgan Kent is just an individual example, his experience shows how positive boxing can be.
“I thrive on adversity,” he told Sky Sports. “Being a torchbearer for other gay guys who want to box to feel like they can and they shouldn’t be discouraged from doing so. Myself I don’t feel discouraged.”
He’s also a solider who has won his last three bouts by knockout.
“I’m speaking from my experience, it’s not been unwelcoming at all, if anything the opposite. It all just comes down to how you perform in the ring itself and that’s how you earn yourself respect,” said the 22-year-old who started boxing at 15.
“As time goes on we’ll progress. For now there’s not much representation in the sport.
“I think as it becomes fully accepted you’ll start seeing gay boxers come through the ranks.”
But there is much more the sport can and should be doing.
Knockout is boxing group for the LBGTQ+ community in London. “Some people are not really shy about their outright homophobia and transphobia,” Knockout’s Pierre Gouverneur told Sky Sports.
“There is something very tied up in machismo, this kind of hypermasculine energy.
“The best athletes can be from every walk of life, it’s not tied up to that and I think it’s kind of sad that in a sport still now in 2023 we can see that.”
Gouverneur is 33 years old. He began boxing a decade ago and has been involved with Knockout since 2018. Before Knockout, he had been at other boxing clubs. But there he “wasn’t sure how I would feel if I came out”.
“If I actually told them, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I don’t want to blame the club for not being inclusive,” he said. “Slowly I started to stop going because I felt I couldn’t be myself and that’s when I discovered Knockout.”
Having groups or classes specifically for the community is valuable. “The reality is as queer people we’re not born in our minority,” he said.
“You’re born outside of your community. Sometimes your safe space which should be home is sometimes the hardest part because that can be where you experience the most hatred and threat.
“It’s just about making friends and sharing experiences and in our case sharing sports. When I discovered that space I was like it’s so great to be able to have that.”
It’s not about creating separate strands of boxing. It’s about opening up pathways into boxing.
“Just saying: ‘We’re fine with these people’ is basically just saying we’re not going to kick them out if they come. That’s not exactly how discrimination works,” Gouverneur said.
“You’re saying you don’t have a problem with it, but what kind of work do you do to make sure that queer people know about this and do you have a policy in place? Maybe the club doesn’t have a problem, but what if 60 per cent of your participants or even 10 per cent of your participants have an issue with queer people?
“Are you just going to tell off the other person? Are you going to say there is zero tolerance? I think sometimes people don’t understand that it takes more than just saying: ‘We are accepting.’
“It’s anticipating what are the barriers to these people and publicly showing that you’ve thought about it, and that you have made it safe for them to practise so when they come it’s already there and they don’t need to educate you.”
Otherwise, he said: “It doesn’t feel accepting, it feels like you have to fight your way to make that space yours. When this space ideally should be ready to welcome you before you arrive.”
This can only be good for boxing clubs and for the sport.
“The clubs I’ve been at where there is so much more diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity and everything, you can see the joy there is there to have all these people learning from one another. Boxing at the end of the day, it’s about the sport but it’s about the community,” Gouverneur said.
“There really is a joy to discovering other ways of being and thinking and I really think there is a benefit to everybody to have a more diverse club. I don’t see what would be the negative.”