Sharkie’s Week In Boxing - Hector Camacho Jr. Vs. Omar Weis

This Week At The Movies:
Hector Camacho Jr. in “Double Exposure”
Starring Omar Weis

22.03 - By Frank Gonzalez: Thursday night at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix Arizona, the WBA’s mysteriously ranked #1 contender, Hector Camacho Jr. faced Omar Weis of Santa Fe Argentina. With a record of 33-0 as a pro, this would be the second test for 23-year old Camacho Jr., son of former World Champion, Hector “Macho” Camacho, who had a certain charisma and was an exciting fighter in his day. Before this match up was established, there were rumors that Jr. would fight Cesar Bezan, a fighter at the twilight of his career, but that didn’t happen.

Omar Weis has been on the short end of the stick in his last three fights in the USA. Omar is a tough fighter with big heart but limited skills. He got a questionable draw against Alejandro Jimenez, another draw against Ray Olivera, who I thought he beat by outworking him in Olivera’s hometown. Then he lost a split decision in California to Antonio Diaz in Diaz’ backyard. Weis is a blue-collar type fighter who gives all he has in the ring. He may have lost some fights he should have won, but his stock keeps rising, as his performances are consistently exciting. The thing Weis has in his favor is that his last seven opponents were mostly tough fighters. When you fight quality opponents, you gain something that cannot be measured by statistics. It is a valuable experience that makes you better the next time out.

As the son of a famous fighter, Camacho Jr. has lived a life of privilege in pro Boxing. Recently, the WBA mysteriously ranked him their number one contender. Little Hector Camacho Jr. has had a Boxing life the equivalent of a spoiled rich kid; easy fights, friendly judges, referees and mysteriously high rankings.

In his first test as a pro he faced veteran welterweight, Jesse James Leija and quit in the fifth round after being cut above the eye from a head butt that didn’t seem too serious. The cut wasn’t bad enough for the ringside doctor to stop it, but Camacho insisted his vision was blurred and wanted the fight ended. In that fight, Camacho lost the first two rounds, then won the next two until the fifth, when he was in trouble and then came the head butt. Leija was cut in the second round from a head butt but didn’t complain and kept fighting. When the fight was stopped, Camacho was awarded the win but it was a decision that was overturned and declared a No Contest. Camacho Jr. refused a rematch with Leija afterwards and opted to take on journeyman fighter Erick Jakubowski, an easy fight to pad his stats with a knock out. After avoiding a rematch with Leija, Jr’s. reputation became that of a quitter and Boxing fans have questioned his ‘heart’ since.

The contract for the Weis fight was for 140 pounds. At the weigh-ins, Weis weighed in at 141 while Camacho, showing a lack of discipline and professionalism, came in at 147-pounds. Weis’ camp said Camacho had to lose 2 pounds or they wanted an extra $10,000 on top of his $15,000 purse. Jr. went to the gym to lose the weight and came back even heavier, weighing 151. Weis camp said they wanted $15,000 on top of the purse, thereby doubling Weis’ payday. Jeff Fried, who took over the promotion from America Presents, said there would be no more weigh-ins. They offered Weis $10,000 and after some ‘backroom bargaining’ settled on $12,500 to allow Camacho to fight at 151 pounds. To add insult to injury, Camacho’s promotional people told Weis, “If you don’t want the fight, we’ll take you out and get a replacement.” Thereby showing who makes the rules; the Promoters.

This, in the home state of Senator John Mc Cain, who has proposed legislation to help ‘legitimize’ Boxing. Ringside commentator Teddy Atlas used the moment to appeal to Mc Cain if he were watching, asking him to, “Help us! Step up and get us a National Commission, where we won’t have to let commissions like this, that allow Boxing to go down to the dumps and have no standards.”

The Fight

In the first three rounds, Camacho fought well enough to have been ahead on the scorecards, though he seemed fairly even with Omar, maybe landing one or two more punches. From the fourth round on, Weis dominated the tempo of the contest, always coming forward, pressing the action with straight rights and body shots. Though his power was low, his output was high. When the moment came to determine who would make the fight, Weis stepped up while Camacho stepped back.

Late in the fourth, Camacho complained about a phantom low blow to the very biased Referee, Bobby Ferrara, who warned Weis for what was actually a clean punch. Throughout the fight, the Ref kept picking on Weis, warning him for two low blows that were clean punches and in the eight round taking a point from Weis for hitting Camacho on the belt as Jr. was jumping up practically drawing that foul. At the start of the fifth round, the bell sounded and Weis made his way to Camacho’s corner, where his trainers were still in the ring tending to him. The Ref reprimanded Weis unfairly, sending him back to his corner. The round had already started and Weis was right. The Ref was wrong; he should have managed the ring better. Ferrara never said anything to Camacho about his belt being practically up to his chest. Usually a good Ref will pull a fighter’s trunks down a bit and say, “These trunks are a little high.” Not Ferrara. Camacho’s trunks were so high that when he sat in his corner, you literally couldn’t see his stomach, just his chest.

Hector “The Macho Man” Camacho Sr. was on hand, standing right up at ringside, bobbing and weaving while yelling instructions and apparently distracting his son who was struggling in the ring. Camacho Sr. was eventually removed from ringside by security.

Weis outworked Camacho, connecting with several straight rights to Junior’s face and always going to the body, in spite of the biased Referee. He broke Camacho down. Camacho would try to hold, but Weis wouldn’t always let him. The Ref never warned Camacho about the elbows he threw or the hitting on the breaks or sticking his forearm into Weis’ chin. The crowd chanted, “Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!” in response to the obvious preferential treatment favoring Camacho Jr. and poor performance of the Referee. The ringside commentators kept mentioning it throughout the fight.

Jr. discovered that it’s hard to hold when your opponent does not cooperate. Camacho didn’t jab much in the fight and he kept waiting for counter opportunities that didn’t often come. He looked sluggish and was predictable and Omar was able to time him and find him and score. In the last round, Camacho rallied but it was too little, too late. Though he may have won the last round, only a corrupt decision would have won him the fight.

In previous Camacho Jr. fights I’ve watched him out slick listless opponents early and then just box from a distance to finish out a fight, much to the dismay of fans that booed him loudly after failing to finish off the likes of Rocky Martinez a few fights ago. That didn’t happen Thursday night. Omar Weis came to fight. He was in shape and hungry for victory. Camacho came in overweight and unprepared to deal with the likes of another ‘legitimate’ fighter not named Leija. I do give Camacho Jr. credit for at least fighting someone who fights back this time. Though Camacho got away with breaking the rules, he didn’t get away with the victory as the judges awarded Weis with a Unanimous Decision.

The Judge’s scores were:

96-94 95-94 96-93

All for Omar Weis.

My score was 97-93 for Weis.

Some quietly said Camacho came in overweight on purpose because he knew Weis was tough and didn’t want to fight him, yet during an interview with David Avila, Camacho Jr. said, “I’m talking about fighting Kostya Tszyu, Weis is a B-fighter that I have to look good against.” Weis proved to be more than Camacho Jr.s’ equivalent.

Omar uncovered what Jesse started to unveil, that Hector Camacho Jr. is not a Championship Class fighter. He is simply an entertainer, who makes grand entrances in fancy costumes and beats unknown fighters. Sort of the Mia St. John of Men’s Boxing. If fighters were ranked not only by their stats (which are very easy to inflate by fighting soft opposition) but also by the quality of their opponents defeated, H.C. Jr. would prove unworthy of such high rankings from the sanctioning bodies. Since his fights are seldom entertaining, I don’t see how that might be a factor. Rankings should be earned, not inherited. If Jr. really wants to be a professional fighter, he should take this loss as a lesson, if you fight soft opposition long enough, you will never be prepared for adversity. I like to call it the “Panchito Bojado Lesson.”

Congratulations Omar Weis, not only do you go home a winner this time but your stock just went up.