Hector
Luis Camacho Matias (May 24, 1962 - November 24, 2012), nicknamed Macho
Camacho, was a Puerto Rican professional boxer and singer. Known for
his quickness in the ring and flamboyant style, he held major champonships
in the super featherweight (WBC, 1983), lightweight (WBC, 1985), and
junior welterweight (WBO, 1989 and 1991) divisions. After earning
minor titles in four additional weight classes, Camacho became the
first boxer to be recognized as a septuple champion.
A storied
amateur, Camacho won three New York Golden Gloves, beginning with
the Sub-Novice 112 lb. championship in 1978. During his 30 year career,
Camacho had many notable fights, defeating Panama's Roberto Duran
twice late in Duran's career, and knocking out a 40 year old Sugar
Ray Leonard, sending Leonard into permanent retirement. He also fought
against Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad, and Oscar De La Hoya,
among others.
During his later years, Camacho expanded his popular
role and appeared on a variety of Spanish-language reality television
shows including Univision's dancing show Mira Quien Baila and a weekly
segment on the popular show El Gordo y La Flaca named Macho News.
But, he also had trouble with drug abuse and criminal charges. In
2005 he was arrested for burglary, a charge to which he would later
plead guilty. In 2008, he won his last major fight, the World Boxing
Empire middleweight championship. In 2011, he was shot at three times
by would-be carjackers in San Juan, but was uninjured. In the fall
of 2012, Camacho was awaiting trial in Florida on charges of physical
abuse of one of his sons.
On November 20, 2012, Camacho was
shot and seriously wounded while sitting in a car outside a bar in
his native Bayamon, Puerto Rico; the driver, a childhood friend, was
killed in the shooting. Camacho died four days later; after he was
declared clinically brain dead, his mother requested the doctors remove
him from life support. After lying in state for two days in Santurce,
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Camacho's remains were transported to New York
for burial at request of his mother.
Early life and amateur career
Camacho
was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to Hector Luis Camacho Sr., and
his wife Maria Matias. He was the youngest of five children, which
included a brother Felix and sisters Raquel, Estrella, and Esperanza.
When he was three, his parents separated, and his mother took the
children with her to New York City. They lived in the James Weldon
Johnson housing project in Spanish Harlem. Camacho attended local
schools and ran into trouble as a teen, getting into street fights
and landing in jail at fifteen. Pat Flannery, a language teacher in
high school, helped the youth, teaching him to read and "acting like
a father figure". When Camacho learned boxing and karate as a teenager,
Flannery guided him to the golden gloves competitions. Demonstrating
talent as a boxer, Camacho chose that sport as a career.
As an
amateur, 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's nickname of "Macho" has been explained
in various ways. According to his father, he gave him the nickname
because he was his youngest son. According to the New York Times,
his mentor Pat Flannery is the one who gave him the nickname during
his teens. According to Camacho himself, the nickname came as a result
of American co-workers at a factory who couldn't pronounce his last
name.
Marriage and family
Camacho had a total of four sons, his
oldest from an early relationship and three from his marriage. His
eldest son, Hector "machito" Camacho Jr. (born 1978 in New York, when
Camacho was 16) also became a professional boxer and has won a championship.