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Héctor Camacho
Born	Hector Luis Camacho (1962-05-24)May 24, 1962 Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Died	November 22, 2012(2012-11-22) (aged 50) San Juan, Puerto Rico
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Other names	Macho Camacho
Statistics
Weight(s)	Junior lightweight
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Reach	175 cm (69 in)
Stance	Southpaw

Boxing record
Total fights	88
Wins	79
Wins by KO	45
Losses	6
Draws	3
No contests	0

Héctor Camacho (May 24, 1962 - November 22, 2012), also popularly known by his nickname "Macho Camacho", was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He was a former champion in the lightweight and junior lightweight divisions. Camacho's son, Héctor Camacho Jr., is also a boxer.

Early life and amateur career

Camacho was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, but his family moved to a Spanish Harlem Project by the name of James Weldon Johnson when he was a child. He ran into trouble there as a teen, getting into fights and landing in jail at 15. He also learned boxing and karate as a teenager, and since he demonstrated talent as a boxer, he chose that sport as a career. He is the first fighter to win in seven different divisions.

Camacho won three New York Golden Gloves Championships. Camacho won the 1978 112 lb Sub-Novice Championship, 1979 118 lb Open Championship and 1980 119 lb Open Championship. In 1979 Camacho defeated Paul DeVorce of the Yonkers Police Athletic League in the finals to win the title, and in 1980 Camacho defeated Tyrone Jackson in the finals to win the Championship. Camacho trained at the LaSombra Sporting Club in New York.

Professional career

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 Sánchez and Eusebio Pedroza. However, Sanchez died when Camacho was still coming up in the ranks.

In the Junior Lightweight division, he defeated top contenders Irleis Cubanito Perez, Melvin Paul, John Montes and Refugio Rojas (Both Montes and Rojas lasted one round, and Rojas would later last seven in a world title challenge of Julio César Chávez for Chavez's world Jr. Lightweight championship).

Junior Lightweight division

External audio
You may watch Hector "Macho" Camacho fight Rafael "Bazooka Limón", here

When World Junior Lightweight champion Bobby Chacón refused to go to Puerto Rico to defend his title against Camacho, the WBC declared the world championship vacant, and the man Chacon had taken the title from, Rafael Limón, fought Camacho for the vacant title. It was the first time Camacho was in a ring with a former world champion, and he didn't show any lack of experience, scoring knockdowns on Limón in the first and third rounds before the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round.

His first defense also came in San Juan where he met fellow Puerto Rican Rafael Solis, whose family included former world bantamweight champion Julian Solís. Camacho got tested in this fight for the first time, and was shaken in round three by a Solis uppercut, but he flattened Solis with a right to the chin in round five, knocking him out to retain the title.

Lightweight division

Moving up to lightweight, Camacho won the United States Boxing Association title with a twelve round decision of Roque Montoya. His next fight made him a two time world champion. Fought on Home Box Office, Camacho beat the Mexican defending world champion, José Luis Ramírez in Las Vegas to win the WBC world Lightweight championship. Camacho dropped Ramirez in round three and went on to win 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 met Edwin Rosario at Madison Square Garden in New York, once again on HBO. In a famous fight, Camacho dominated rounds one to four, but had to hang on in rounds five, six and seven when he felt Rosario's power. He came back to take rounds eight and nine, but Rosario came back taking the last three rounds. It was a close fight but Camacho won the title by split decision. After this fight, Camacho's style changed into a defensive style that seemed more intent on avoiding punishment than winning a fight.

Camacho then retained his title vs former world junior lightweight champion Cornelius Boza Edwards in Miami in a unanimous decision before going up in weight again. After a few fights there, he met former world lightweight champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, who had a record of 29-3 with 23 knockouts coming into this fight, for the vacant WBO Light Welterweight title. Camacho was the fresher of the two and ended up winning a split twelve round decision, joining that exclusive group of world champion boxers who have become three-weight world champions.

Camacho next met Vinny Pazienza, winning on points again. His next challenger was Tony Baltazar, from Phoenix. Baltazar was another points victim on an HBO televised bout. Camacho saw his undefeated streak come to an end and lost his world championship to the former world Lightweight champion Greg Haugen. This fight would have ended in a draw if it were not for the fact that the referee deducted one point from Camacho for refusing to touch gloves with Haugen at the start of the 12th round. After the fight, an unidentified substance was found in Haugen's urine, and a rematch was ordered. Camacho regained the title, beating Haugen in a close split decision.

In 1992 Camacho met the legendary Mexican Julio César Chávez for a showdown with the undefeated 81-0 champion. Camacho entered the Las Vegas ring dressed in an outfit based on the Puerto Rican flag for a fight televised by Showtime's Pay Per View. During the bout Camacho was criticized for his retreating tactics as Chávez kept pushing the fight and constantly harassed him with hard punches to the body. The highly anticipated bout ended with a victory by unanimous decision for Chávez.

Among Camacho's notable bouts since 1992 were two victories (by points) over Roberto Durán, (one in Atlantic City, the other in Denver). In 1997, he knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard in 5 rounds. This loss sent the forty-one year-old Leonard into permanent retirement, putting an end to his third comeback attempt six years after a loss to Terry Norris in 1991. Camacho fought for the World Welterweight Championship against Félix Trinidad (in 1994) and Oscar De La Hoya (in 1997), losing both matches by unanimous decision.

On December 5, 2003, Camacho recovered from a first round knockdown (the third against him in his career) to defeat Craig Houk by knockout in round three. He then won consecutive unanimous ten round decisions over Clinton McNeil and Raúl Jorge Muñoz. After that, his boxing career went on hiatus as he faced legal issues.

Camacho returned to boxing on July 18, 2008, competing against Perry Ballard for the World Boxing Empire's Middleweight championship. The fight lasted seven rounds. Camacho won when Ballard's corner threw the towel. Before this fight, Camacho was trained by Angelo Dundee. His last two fights resulted in a draw and a loss, against Luis Ramón Campas and Saúl Duran respectively. His last fight against Duran was on May 14, 2010.

Major professional championships

VacantTitle last held byBobby Chacon	WBC Super Featherweight Champion 7 Aug 1983–1984 Vacated	VacantTitle next held byJulio César Chávez
Preceded byJosé Luis Ramírez	WBC Lightweight Champion 10 Aug 1985–1987 Vacated	VacantTitle next held byJosé Luis Ramírez
Inaugural Champion	WBO Light Welterweight Champion 6 Mar 1989 – 23 Feb 1991	Succeeded byGreg Haugen
Preceded byGreg Haugen	WBO Light Welterweight Champion 18 May 1991–1992 Vacated	VacantTitle next held byCarlos González

Personal life

Camacho has four children from different relationships. His older son: Héctor Camacho, Jr. is also a boxer. His other children are Justin, Christian and Taylor.

Television career

In 2010, Camacho participated in ¡Mira Quien Baila!, a reality show airing on Univision in the United States that is the American/Spanish-Speaking version of Dancing with the Stars. He was the first contestant eliminated from the competition. Camacho later joined the Univision entertainment news program El Gordo y La Flaca as a Mira Quien Baila critic and entertainment world newscaster.

On March 2012, Camacho starred on a reality television dating game show titled It's Macho Time where a group of women compete to be Camacho's girlfriend. The show was produced by Latin World Entertainment and broadcast through NuevOn on YouTube.

Legal issues

Burglary and arrest

On January 6, 2005, Camacho was arrested by police in Gulfport, Mississippi on charges of trying to burgle an electronic goods store and carrying ecstasy on him. In 2007, he declared himself guilty of being under the influence at the time of the burglary. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison, but a judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail after violating that probation.

2011 shooting

On February 12, 2011, Camacho was shot near the Luis Lloréns Torres housing project in San Juan. Camacho said he took a friend to a nearby bar when two men approached his 2005 BMW X5 and tried to carjack him. When he tried to drive away, they shot him three times.

Child abuse trial

Per ESPN.com, the former champion boxer faced a felony count of child abuse and turned himself in to Florida authorities in April 2012 on a warrant filed late last year. The 49-year-old Camacho posted a $5,000 bond at the Orange County Jail in Orlando and was released. According to the arrest affidavit, Camacho surrendered on a warrant that records show was filed by the state attorney's office in November 2011. A trial is pending for Camacho in Orange County, Florida. He is accused of picking up his teenage son by his neck, slamming him to the ground and stomping on him. It allegedly happened in March 2011 at Camacho's ex-wife's home.

2012 shooting, hospitalization and death

On November 20, 2012, around 7 p.m. AST, Camacho was shot one time in the face while in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Several news agencies are reporting that Camacho, 50, was seated in the passenger seat of a Ford Mustang when he was shot by unknown individuals from a passing car. The owner-driver of the car, a childhood friend of Camacho, was killed in the attack. According to El Nuevo Herald, Camacho was taken to San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón, where he was pronounced to be in critical condition shortly thereafter. Police said a chase took place and the van that held the shooting was found in the area of Jardines de Cataño. They arrested one of the suspects around 9 p.m. AST. At one point, doctors announced that Camacho was expected to survive but could be paralyzed, but after suffering a cardiac arrest during the night, they said his cerebral activity was very low.

The morning after the shooting, Rafael Rodríguez Mercado, rector of the Medical Sciences Campus, had confirmed to El Nuevo Día that Camacho was brain dead. "His full recovery would be a miracle, medically there is nothing more that can be done," confirmed Rodríguez Mercado. However, that same afternoon, Ernesto Torres, director of the hospital, informed that there was still "minimal, although irregular and intermittent" brain activity. The next morning, Torres himself said Camacho was "clinically brain dead"..

Police investigating the incident say they found nine small bags of cocaine, with a tenth bag open inside the car where Camacho was shot.