Hector
Camacho (24 May, 1962 – 24 November 2012), commonly known by his nickname
“Macho” Camacho. After a stellar amateur career, Camacho began a quick
rise through the professional rankings, first in the featherweight
and then in the junior lightweight division. He was so confident that
he claimed he could beat world featherweight champions Salvador Sanchez
and Eusebio Pedroza. However, Sanchez died while Camacho was still
coming up in the ranks. In the junior lightweight division, he defeated
the top contender Irleis Cubaniot Perez, Melvin Paul, John Montes,
and Refugio Rojas.
Super featherweight
When the World Junior Lightweight
champion, Bobby Chacon, refused to go to Puerto Rico to defend his
title against Camacho, the World Boxing Council (WBC) declared the
world championship vacant. Rafael Limon, who had been defeated and
lost the championship to Chacon, fought him for the vacant title.
It was the first time Camacho was in a ring with a former world champion;
he scored knockdowns on Limon in the first and third rounds before
the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round.
Camacho also
fought his first defense in San Juan, where he met Rafael Solis, a
fellow Puerto Rican. Camacho got tested in this fight for the first
time, and was shaken in round three by a Solis uppercut. He knocked
out Solis with a right to the chin in round five, and retained the
title.
Lightweight
Moving up to lightweight, Camacho won the United
States Boxing Association title against Roque Montoya with a twelve
round decision. His victory in the next fight, broadcast on Home Box
Office (HBO), made him a two time world champion. Camacho beat the
Mexican defending world champion, Jose Luis Ramirez in Las Vegas to
win the WBC world Lightweight championship. Camacho dropped Ramirez
in round three and won the fight by a unanimous twelve round decision.
The
two other reigning world champions in his division at that time, Livingstone
Bramble and Jimmy Paul, were reluctant to unify the crown with Camacho.
Instead, he beat Freddie roach before his next fight of importance
came along, ten months after beating Ramirez.
He med Edwin Rosario
on June 13, 1986, at Madison square Garden in New York City, a bout
also broadcast on HBO. The fight was notable for the shifts of dominance
between the men. Camacho dominated rounds one to four, but had to
hang on in rounds five, six and seven, when he felt Roario’s power.
He came back to take rounds eight and nine, but Rosario came back
to take the last three rounds. It was a close fight, but Camacho retained
the title by a split decision of the judges.
Camacho retained
his title against Cornelius Boza Edwards, a former world junior lightweight
champion, in Miami in a unanimous decision, after dropping Edwards
in the first round.
Light welterweight
He went up in weight and
competed at the next level. After a few fights there, he met Ray “Boom
Boom” Mancini, the former world lightweight champion who had a record
of 29-3 with 23 knockouts, for the vacant WBO Light Welterweight title.
Camacho was the fresher of the two and won a split twelve round decision.
He joined that exclusive group of world champion boxers who have become
world champions in three weight divisions.