Israel Gutierrez on ESPN's Around the Horn

Gay ESPN reporter Israel Gutierrez has opened up about dealing with the attention lavished on anti-LGBT boxing champion Tyson Fury.

Gutierrez, an ESPN sports reporter who came out as gay in 2015, spoke out ahead of Tyson Fury’s much-publicised boxing match against Tom Schwarz.

During an appearance on sports panel show Around The Horn, Gutierrez referenced Fury’s previous claim that homosexuality and paedophilia will bring about the apocalypse.

ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez: Watching Tyson Fury makes me feel like I don’t matter

The reporter said: “I just wanted to let you guys know what it feels like to watch Tyson Fury, a man who has been very open about his beliefs, including the fact that homosexuality and the acceptance of it is a sign the world is ending.

“It makes me feel like I don’t matter. It makes me feel like my friends don’t matter. It makes me feel like my partner doesn’t matter.

“It takes me right back to my teenage years and childhood, when I looked around and thought that everybody was looking down on me, thinking that I’m lesser-than, just because of this way I was born.”

He added: “But I’m still going to watch, and I hope that it strengthens me.

ICYMI: In the midst of #PrideMonth, @IzGutierrez used his FaceTime today to deliver a powerful message about how watching Tyson Fury makes him feel… pic.twitter.com/1R81ThKZJY — Around The Horn (@AroundtheHorn) June 14, 2019

“It’s because of guys like that, that I have to fight every single day. Happy Pride, everyone.”

Tyson Fury hasn’t distanced himself from anti-LGBT rhetoric

Although he has never directly apologised for his history of anti-LGBT comments, Fury has been welcomed back into the boxing world.

In 2018, Fury stormed out of an interview after he was asked directly about his views.

The boxer spoke to ITV reporter Nick Wallis for just 30 seconds before storming away when asked to address his comments.

The boxer has previously claimed that sex with children was legalised by a fictional “Gay Rights Act 1977.”

He claimed: “There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home.

“One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other one’s paedophilia.

“Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?

“When I say paedophiles can be made legal, that sounds like crazy talk doesn’t it?

“But back in the 50s and early 60s, for them first two to be made legal would have been looked on as a crazy man again.”

He added: “I have newspaper evidence that suggest that the Gay Rights Act of 1977 backed in favour of paedophilia being legalised in the UK. So how dare I say that, but how dare it be on the national paper…. These are the people, these are now politicians or whatever in the country.”