Héctor Camacho Jr.
 |
Héctor Camacho Herrera Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hector Camacho Herrera Jr. September 20, 1978 |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Other names | Machito |
| Statistics | |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Reach | 175 cm (69 in) |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 67 |
| Wins | 58 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 7 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 1 |
Héctor Machito Camacho Herrera Jr. (born September 20, 1978) is a Mexican-Puerto Rican professional boxer residing in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. He started boxing professionally at the age of 18 years old. He is the son of the late three-time world champion Héctor "Macho" Camacho. In 2007, 2010, 2014, and 2016, he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) Light Middleweight title. His mother was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. His girlfriend is Swedish-Mexican sports reporter Vanessa Huppenkothen[citation needed].
Early life and education
Hector Camacho Jr. was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico,[1] but grew up in New York City. His parents were quite young and did not marry; his father was Hector Camacho, then 16 years old, who lived in Spanish Harlem. The senior Camacho, nicknamed "Macho", became an amateur boxer and, later a professional.
The boy was nicknamed "Machito". He grew up admiring his father's fighting skills and imitating him, and was more interested in fighting than school. At the age of eight, Camacho Jr. was noted for doing mock sparring with his dad before his father's world title defense on June 13, 1986, against Edwin Rosario at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That night, the boy wore a Puerto Rican flag outfit.
Professional career
His fight against the former world champion Jesse James Leija resulted in a no contest, after Leija's team protested the awarding of the fight on points to Camacho. The fight was stopped in the fifth round due to an unintentional headbutt by Leija that opened a cut over Camacho's eye. Camacho indicated he did not want to continue. The referees went to their scorecards to determine the winner, and gave Camacho the decision. Many fans felt he quit in the fight.[citation needed]
Camacho is a member of Team Fight to Walk, which raises money to support spinal cord research. Other boxers, including Boyd Melson, Demetrius Andrade, Shawn Estrada, Steve Cunningham and Deandre Latimore, help support this organization.
In 2002, Camacho lost for the first time, to Omar Weis from Argentina, by a decision in ten rounds.
On July 9, 2005, Camacho Jr. and his father co-starred an undercard in Tucson, Arizona. After riding into the ring on a fake bull, Camacho Jr. proceeded to knock out Francisco Barra in the second round. A riot in the audience followed his father's win that night; it is not known if Camacho Jr. had a role in the riot.[citation needed]
Camacho fought against Andrey Tsurkan at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 10, 2006. Tsurkan won by a TKO in the 8th round.[citation needed]
In July 2007, Camacho lost a decision to Don Juan Futrell. Camacho came in overweight at 161 pounds and was outworked by the 150-pound Futrell. Sports journalists thought Camacho's hopes for any future title contention were in doubt based on his condition and performance in that fight.[citation needed]
Suspended
In December 2008, Camacho was indefinitely suspended by the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission as a result of his cancelling a bout with Yory Boy Campas in November in Tijuana, Mexico. Camacho had denied signing for that bout.[2]
Caribbean light middleweight title
Camacho got back into shape and on August 29, 2009, he defeated Israel Cardona for the vacant WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) Light Middleweight title.[1] In an interview prior to the match, Camacho said that his passion for boxing had been re-ignited and he wanted to win a world title.[citation needed]
On October 30, 2009, Camacho Jr. fought Luis "Yory Boy" Campas in El Paso, Texas. Camacho won the 10-round bout by a split decision, with the scores of 96–91 and 95–92 for him, and 92–95 for Campas. This was a sort of "revenge", as Campas had a draw with the fighter's father, Héctor Camacho, just a few months before.[citation needed]
Camacho was reported to have challenged the former Champion Fernando Vargas, but no fight resulted.[3]
On October 29, 2010 Camacho was knocked out by David Lemieux, then the undefeated middleweight contender, in the first round at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[4][5]
Personal life
In 2011, Camacho said in an interview that he had converted to Islam the year before in a search for "Spiritual health," and that he was leading "a cleaner life."[6]
Professional boxing record
References
- ^ a b c "Héctor Camacho Jr.", Boxing Records
- ^ Gabriel F. Cordero, "Camacho Suspended!", Fight News, 30 December 2008
- ^ "Hector Camacho Leaves Cleveland" Archived 2009-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, Cleveland, August 2009, accessed 29 November 2012
- ^ "Lemieux Stops Camacho Jr. in 1st Round but Doesn't Look Ready for Bute Pavlik Martinez or Williams", Boxing News, October 2010
- ^ "David Lemieux Points Hector Camacho", Montreal Gazette
- ^ G. Leon, "HECTOR CAMACHO JR.'S JOURNEY DOWN TO WELTWEIGHT STARTS ON FEBRUARY 11TH", Boxing Talk, 18 January 2011
External links
- Boxing record for Héctor Camacho Jr. from BoxRec (registration required)
- Hector Camacho Jr., Yahoo sports discussion group
- "Interview: Hector Camacho Jr.", Boxing Capital, January 2009