Héctor Camacho Jr.

Early life and education

Hector Camacho Jr. was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 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.

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.

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.

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. 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 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.

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, Canada.

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."