![]() He was good looking and had CHARISMA marked by a smile that enabled him to project as a charming fun-loving boy while proclaiming himself to be “The Macho Man.” Among other things, he desgned his own ring wardrobe at a time when most fighters wore traditional trunks and robes. But his pure speed combined with the southpaw style and the command of being center stage made him the total package.”Ĭamacho quickly established himself as a gate attraction. “But I don’t remember the maturity as much as I remember the pure speed and skill level. “He had a maturity in the ring that belied his age,” boxing analyst Steve Farhood later recalled. One of his signature moves was to illegally pull down on an opponent’s neck with his right glove to move the opponent into an uppercut. And he always knew where he was in the ring.”Ĭamacho was also a dirty fighter who took advantage of what compliant referees allowed him to do. The way he blocked punches – jab, jab, hold. “He would always create angles,” Camacho’s son, Hector Jnr, later noted. Hardcore fans saw glimpses of greatness.” Casual fans loved what they saw because of his energy, flair, and talent. But speed was only part of the package that included incomparable defensive instincts, precision punching, a menacing jab, and sharp angles that rarely put him in harm’s way. “His grace and speed made up for his flaws. “No one could outbox him, overpower him, out-quick him, or outsmart him in the ring,” Giudice writes. The fact that he was a southpaw made things even more complicated for the men he fought. He was a hot prospect from the start with blinding handspeed and deft footwork that separated him from opponents. He also took up boxing and compiled a 96-4 amateur record while winning three New York Golden Gloves titles.Ĭamacho turned pro in 1980 with a four-round decision over David Brown in the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden. Growing up, Hector fell in with street gangs, habitually used drugs, and was kicked out of seven schools. When Hector was four, his mother moved with her children to Spanish Harlem in New York to escape her violent, alcoholic husband. His father was seventeen and his mother fourteen when they married. Camacho was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, on May 24, 1962. Giudice has written biographies of Alexis Arguello, Roberto Duran, and Wilfredo Gomez. He was garish, crude, outlandish, lewd, reckless, and loud. ![]() ![]() ![]() Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho by Christian Giudice is its most recent offering.Īs Carlos Acevedo writes in his Foreword to the book, “In the 1980s, Camacho was one of the most talented fighters in the world and personified the hedonistic philosophy of the decade with boorish aplomb. HAMILCAR PUBLICATIONS is fast becoming a leader in the publication of books about boxing. ![]()
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