(NOV 27) At the end, Hector
Camacho's last fight was stopped. Not by a referee inside the
ropes in a major boxing venue, where, during many "big fight"
nights of the last two decades of the previous century, Camacho
was a fixture, but by his family, surrounding his bed, in the
Centro Medico trauma center in the fighter's native Puerto Rico.
Four days earlier, Camacho had been shot while sitting in a car
outside a bar. He had lingered in a coma while his condition and
prognosis worsened to the point where he was medically adjudged
to be "brain dead". Hector Camacho was 50 years old and he had
lived that relatively short life, both inside and outside the
ring, hard and fast. His fans called him flamboyant, his
critics, a showboat and the truth was probably somewhere between
those two poles of behavior. But whatever one thought of Hector
Camacho and the manner in which he utilized that half century of
life, it is difficult not be in awe of what he accomplished in
the sport of boxing.
Hector Camacho was a New York
fighter. Born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, he arrived, with his
family, in New York City in the 1960s, settling in the northeast
section of the borough of Manhattan known as Spanish Harlem.
Like many youths of that era and heritage, Camacho grew up on
the streets and followed his instincts and wits through several
minor run-ins with the law, before being shuttled into an
amateur boxing program, a historical New York refuge and path
away from neighborhood dead-ends for others, in earlier years,
with names such as Graziano, LaMotta and Tyson. Camacho
prospered in this environment, winning three NY Daily News
Golden Gloves titles and turning professional in 1980.
His first sixteen bouts were in
his adopted hometown, all wins against the type of opposition
that is usually reserved for talented fighters deemed to have a
future in the sport. In his thirteenth bout, in December 1981,
Camacho won the NABF super featherweight title against Blaine
Dickson (15-3) in twelve rounds at the Felt Forum in Madison
Square Garden. He defended the title six months later winning in
one round against veteran Refugio Rojas (19-10). He was now
ready to move onward and upward, out of New York, first to the
lights of Atlantic City's casinos. His bout, at the Sands Casino
in New Jersey; against Johnny Sato, set Camacho on his path
towards his 85 bout career and multiple world titles. Sato, a
tough southpaw from California was to be a good test for the
young fighter and his future prospects. Sato went out in four
rounds, sending signposts of the fame and fortune out there for
this New Yorker. Camacho also laid groundwork for what would be
his trademark of flamboyant bravado. Asked about this seminal
bout by Sports Illustrated, Camacho remarked, "If I had met Sato
a few years ago on 115th Street, I would have done the same
thing for nothing."
Huge Photo Slideshow
It was a wild ride, in and out of
the ring. Camacho had wins over Rafael Limon, Edwin Rosario,
Cornelius Boza Edwards, Howard Davis Jr., Ray Mancini, Vinny
Pazienza, two decisons over Roberto Duran and a win over Sugar
Ray Leonard. He split two bouts with tough Greg Haugen and lost
to Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. In
short, Hector Camacho fought every one who was anyone in the
last two decades of the twentieth century and had more big wins
than big losses. His "act" from the moment his music started, to
his walk back to the dressing room, following the bout, set him
apart in an era when many fighters tried for flamboyance and
came up embarrassingly short. Hector Camacho's appeal spilled
over the top. There were also arrests and jail time for a theft
in Mississippi, restraining orders from his wife and a sometimes
strained relationship with a son who, himself, is a world ranked
fighter.
Huge Photo Slideshow
But the sport of boxing and the
streets of Spanish Harlem have never been renowned for the
output of model citizens. But even here Hector Camacho deviated
from the norm. Later in his life, he joined his boxing friend
and fellow New Yorker, middleweight contender, Alex "The Bronx
Bomber" Ramos (they had known each other since they were 10 and
came to California around the same time in the 1980s) in a
campaign against urban graffiti, jointly appearing in the
acclaimed documentary, "Style Wars."
Hector Camacho was a very
talented boxer who promoted both himself and his sport with
almost unlimited energy at almost every opportunity and his
sport was much the better for having him as a champion. The
decision to take him off life support was, unquestionably, the
right decision from a medical standpoint and in another sense,
the perfect decision from a symbolic standpoint. Hector Luis
Camacho never belonged in the same sentence with the phrase,
"brain dead." There never was a fighter, in all aspects of his
long career, who was more "alive." Remember him for all that he
was, good and bad. But honor the memory of what he was in the
ring.
WBAN
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