Héctor Camacho Jr.

Héctor Machito Camacho Herrera Jr. (born September 20, 1978) is an American-born Puerto Rican, Mexican professional boxer and published writer residing in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. He started boxing professionally at the age of 18. He is the son of the late three-time world champion Héctor "Macho" Camacho and the nephew of Felix "Showtime" 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.

Héctor Camacho Herrera Jr.
Statistics
Real nameHéctor Camacho Herrera Jr.
Nickname(s)Machito
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Reach175 cm (69 in)
NationalityPuerto Rican/Mexican
BornHector Camacho Herrera Jr.
(1978-09-20) September 20, 1978
Spanish Harlem, Manhattan, New York,[1] United States
StanceSouthpaw
Boxing record
Total fights67
Wins58
Wins by KO32
Losses7
Draws1
No contests1

Early life and education

Hector Camacho Jr. was born and raised 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.

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.

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.

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.

On October 30, 2009, Camacho Jr. fought Luis "Yory Boy" Campas[4] 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.

Camacho was reported to have challenged the former Champion Fernando Vargas, but no fight resulted.[5]

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.[6][7]

Personal life

In 2013, Camacho said in an interview that it was his father's death and his conversion to Islam that helped him make his comeback into boxing.[8] On September 1, 2014, a book written by Camacho, Jr. was published. The book, "Macho Dad", is a comic book that portrays his dad as a Puerto Rican flag-wearing superhero.[9]

Exhibition boxing record
1 fight 0 wins 0 losses
Non-scored 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
1 — 0–0 (1) Mexico Julio César Chávez — 4 June 19, 2021 Mexico Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico Non-scored bout

References
  1. "Héctor Camacho Jr.", Boxing Records
  2. "David Lemieux vs. Hector Camacho Jr. on October 29th ⋆ Boxing News 24". October 9, 2010.
  3. Gabriel F. Cordero, "Camacho Suspended!" Archived 2008-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, Fight News, 30 December 2008
  4. "Boxing News: Yory Boy Campas wants one more fight » October 14, 2019". September 26, 2019.
  5. "Hector Camacho Leaves Cleveland" Archived 2009-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, Cleveland, August 2009, accessed 29 November 2012
  6. "Lemieux Stops Camacho Jr. in 1st Round but Doesn't Look Ready for Bute Pavlik Martinez or Williams", Boxing News, October 2010
  7. "David Lemieux Points Hector Camacho", Montreal Gazette
  8. Wheat, Chris (August 8, 2013). "Hector Camacho Jr. Is His Father's Son". The Sweet Science.
  9. Camacho Jr., Hector; Warburton, Dustin (2014). Macho Dad. ISBN 978-0996037433.
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