Boxing

Sharkie’s Machine: Hector Camacho Jr. "Bringing Excitement Back To Boxing." A Joke That’s Just Not Funny.

By Frank Gonzalez Jr.

06.08 - Little John Brown (23-11 with 11 KO's, who's lost four of his last five fights) never showed up for his scheduled fight with Hector “Macho” Camacho Jr. at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC. But a last minute replacement was found in Bryon Mackie (21-9) of Ontario Canada, who had just lost to Ray Olivera only two weeks ago, on July 18th by UD-10 in Ray’s hometown. Why don’t they have back up fighters in place at least a month in advance in case the need arises? Most of us know the answer to that. Fighters like Camacho Jr. need the kind of replacement fighter who is guaranteed to lose. How exciting.

With one day’s notice, Mackie filled in for Brown and probably did a lot worse than Brown might have. To his credit, Mackie has a lot of heart, just not a lot of skills. He has virtually no offense and is defensively unbalanced.

Before the fight, Camacho was shown on a bio clip saying that he, “wants to bring excitement back to boxing.” Saying that he is a “shooting star” in the sport. He never gave that impression during the fight. He looked like runny eggs that slip off the fork. He seems to live in a fantasy world in his own head, where he’s a super star on the rise. Most fans would agree that with 36 pro fights, he should have accomplished something by now or at least fought and beat at least one quality fighter.

Facing Mackie would be Camacho’s return to the ring since November of last year, when he won a TKO 1 over Fred Ladd. Never heard of Fred Ladd? Me either. Before that, he lost a decision to Omar Weis, who has little pop but is very active and well conditioned. Possibly a prince of the B class fighters, Omar put a boxing clinic on Camacho Jr. in March of 2002.

The fight was typical Camacho Jr. fare; boring. With Jr. landing an average of 10 feather-fisted punches a round and Mackie landing an average of 4 per round. It was clearly a fight Camacho couldn’t lose unless some divine intervention occurred and Mackie actually put a few punches together. But whenever Mackie did throw, Camacho moved two steps back.

The best thing Camacho does is move backward and avoid exchanges. He tries to hold opponents behind their head and hit. Against the low caliber of opponents he’s used to, he can spin them around and hit them while their backs are turned. He’s never demonstrated the ability to sit on his punches and honestly take a fighter out.

Referee Malike Waleed took a point from Camacho for a low blow in the 5th round.

Upping his record to 37-1 with 20 KO’s, there are only three recognizable names on Junior’s resume, they are journeyman Joe Hutchinson, Jesse James Leija and Omar Weis. He lost to Weis and in my opinion was on his way to losing to Leija when he pulled out of that fight saying he couldn’t see after the headbutt.

Camacho is not a well-liked fighter and for many reasons. He has good hand speed but no power. He is content to sit on a points lead and run till the fight ends. He throws punches and backs up so quickly that the punches never follow through the target thereby having no effect on opponents. He has a penchant for overstating his value and actually bragging, when he’s done nothing noteworthy other than to stick and move and win boring fights against lousy fighters who look paid to lose.

Camacho Jr. has enjoyed the benefit of being the son Hector “Macho” Camacho Senior, the original “Macho” –who’s fast hands and ring persona was at least entertaining (to some degree) in his prime.

Hector Jr. is the opposite of his father and is usually the inspiration of Boo’s from the fans as he lulls them all to sleep with his extremely defensive, soft punching style. Even with new trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner, Camacho Jr. looks the same as he ever did. He does not commit to his punches and fights like he’s afraid to mix it up. He came in ranked 16th in the Welterweight division. His opponent Tuesday night was ranked 99th. Typical.

The way he looked against Mackie indicates that he would be destroyed by any of the respectable names in the Welter division.

I’d love to see him try it though. IF he ever faces a quality Welter, he’s going to get knocked out so bad, he’ll probably disappear for good. The good of the sport.

What was that about bringing excitement back to boxing?

Agree or Disagree?

Send comments to dshark87@hotmail.com

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