BoxRec

For me he is the number one of all time. He might have been the quickest boxer ever. The most macho for sure.

JackSprocket wrote: ↑13 Oct 2025, 03:43 For me he is the number one of all time. He might have been the quickest boxer ever. The most macho for sure.

Great fighter that was the Island of Puerto Rico' most complete boxer ever. He could do it all and was very flamboyant. He knew how to sell tickets in boxing.

Unfortunately, Hector "Macho" Camacho never took advantage of his great potential. He could have been one of the greatest boxers of all time if he wasn't around the wrong crowd and fool around with women, drugs and booze. Those things were his kryptonite.

What do you think elmersalsa, was there ever a faster boxer than Hector "Macho" Camacho?

JackSprocket wrote: ↑13 Oct 2025, 16:14 What do you think elmersalsa, was there ever a faster boxer than Hector "Macho" Camacho?

I could count with one hand and to tell you the truth, there are not many.

I'm finding it hard to think of any. Who do you have in mind?

JackSprocket wrote: ↑14 Oct 2025, 01:05 I'm finding it hard to think of any. Who do you have in mind?

Speaking of fighters that had faster hands and feet than Hector "Macho" Camacho, in my view, would be:

Roy Jones, Jr: OMG! I have never seen a fighter with a rare combination of speed and power in my lifetime. When he is matched in mythical fights, it's hard to think for me a fighter that would beat him in his best day. Speed kills in any sport. And Super Roy not only had speed, but unbelievable hand and foot speed. The most scary part of his arsenal is that when he was going up in weight, his speed and power were still intact. Either you lose speed or power going up to another weight class. That is not the case with Jones. As a matter of fact, is a rare case.

Sugar Ray Leonard: Especially, at welterweight, his speed and pin point accuracy was one of boxing's all time best. Sugar Ray was probably THE MOST COMPLETE BOXER that I have ever seen from the United States of America. Just look at the deadly combinations against Andy "The Hawk" Price of that night of September 28, 1979 and you will know what I am talking about. He set up Price beautifully and stopped him in the very first round. But, above welterweight, he wasn't that fast and his power diminished. Still fast, though, but not as fast as Welterweight.

Do I have anyone else on my mind faster than Camacho? Nope. Probably Ismael Laguna of Panama or Meldrick Taylor of Philadelphia, PA. I think those two are as fast as Camacho.

But, Super Roy and Sugar Ray? Definitely the two fighters that were faster than he.

Greetings.

Ray Leonard, yes. He might have been faster. But Roy Jones, never!

Amir Khan and Meldrick Taylor both had crazy fast hands. Not saying either was faster than Camacho necessarily.

JackSprocket wrote: ↑14 Oct 2025, 10:24 Ray Leonard, yes. He might have been faster. But Roy Jones, never!

Roy Jones Jr was a total beast.

Carlos Ortiz and Pedro Montanez were better than Camacho, imo.

Gomez too. Probably Trinidad and Benitez too. Camacho had great talent, especially at 130

giacomino wrote: ↑15 Oct 2025, 13:13 Gomez too. Probably Trinidad and Benitez too. Camacho had great talent, especially at 130

Camacho could probably have taken Cotto don't ya think? Would've been competitive though. I can see he and Benitez being very competitive as well.

He'd probably be pretty intimidated of Tito's power, and spend a lot of the fight on his bicycle.

Hector was a special fighter, but got caught up in the 80s lifestyle. I always felt that Howard Davis Jr, and Meldrick Taylor could hang with Hector speed wise.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑14 Oct 2025, 18:17

JackSprocket wrote: ↑14 Oct 2025, 10:24 Ray Leonard, yes. He might have been faster. But Roy Jones, never!

Roy Jones Jr was a total beast.

Have you lost leave of your senses Jack.
RJJ is top of the food chain on this one.

Watched Camacho some before he got a title shot. He looked like he was going to be the next superstar. Looked great against Limon. Had some other impressive performances for a while after that. Then he started to gradually regress. Started to become just a guy acting goofy and not actually doing anything in the ring. By the time he fought Mancini he looked awful. Regrouped a little bit and was at the Greg Haugen/Vinny Pazienza level for while.

Guess we should not judge him on how great he could have been and judge him by what happened. Certainly deserving of being in the HOF.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑15 Oct 2025, 19:34 Watched Camacho some before he got a title shot. He looked like he was going to be the next superstar. Looked great against Limon. Had some other impressive performances for a while after that. Then he started to gradually regress. Started to become just a guy acting goofy and not actually doing anything in the ring. By the time he fought Mancini he looked awful. Regrouped a little bit and was at the Greg Haugen/Vinny Pazienza level for while.

Guess we should not judge him on how great he could have been and judge him by what happened. Certainly deserving of being in the HOF.

The Limón fight was an example of two guys heading in a different direction and of styles. Bazooka was perfect for an up-and-coming Camacho. He had been through the Chacon wars and was a relatively slow banger who, at his best, tried to wear his opponents down. He was never the same after the last Chacon fight and was on the way down. Camacho was super fast and on his way up, he hadn’t been involved in a lot of tough fights and just blitzed Limón. His speed and skills would always have given Limón a rough time but at 29, Bakooza was shot. He won only three of his last 14 fights after the last war with Chacon.

Camacho finally looked vulnerable vs Rosario, a fight that could have gone either way.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑15 Oct 2025, 13:16

giacomino wrote: ↑15 Oct 2025, 13:13 Gomez too. Probably Trinidad and Benitez too. Camacho had great talent, especially at 130

Camacho could probably have taken Cotto don't ya think? Would've been competitive though. I can see he and Benitez being very competitive as well.

He'd probably be pretty intimidated of Tito's power, and spend a lot of the fight on his bicycle.

He lost onesidedly to Trinidad when he moved up to welterweight (past his best) . I dunno about Cotto. Remember, at 140, Camacho struggled with Mancini, who hadn’t fought in four years, split fights with Haugen and lost every minute of his bout with Chavez (as did Haugen). Cotto would have beaten the versions of Mancini and Haugen who fought Camacho. A fight with Benitez would have been a chess match but I don’t see the Camacho who we saw post-Rosario beating him

giacomino wrote: ↑16 Oct 2025, 02:03

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑15 Oct 2025, 19:34 Watched Camacho some before he got a title shot. He looked like he was going to be the next superstar. Looked great against Limon. Had some other impressive performances for a while after that. Then he started to gradually regress. Started to become just a guy acting goofy and not actually doing anything in the ring. By the time he fought Mancini he looked awful. Regrouped a little bit and was at the Greg Haugen/Vinny Pazienza level for while.

Guess we should not judge him on how great he could have been and judge him by what happened. Certainly deserving of being in the HOF.

The Limón fight was an example of two guys heading in a different direction and of styles. Bazooka was perfect for an up-and-coming Camacho. He had been through the Chacon wars and was a relatively slow banger who, at his best, tried to wear his opponents down. He was never the same after the last Chacon fight and was on the way down. Camacho was super fast and on his way up, he hadn’t been involved in a lot of tough fights and just blitzed Limón. His speed and skills would always have given Limón a rough time but at 29, Bakooza was shot. He won only three of his last 14 fights after the last war with Chacon.

Camacho finally looked vulnerable vs Rosario, a fight that could have gone either way.

Agree with everything in both of these posts. That Rosario fight was the damndest thing. Camacho hung on and won, but he was never the same fighter after that fifth round. It was like getting hurt changed him forever.

It's not uncommon for a guy to start to become gunshy after being knocked out, but it's a little unusual to see a guy be gunshy for the rest of his career after simply being hurt.

He was never stopped though so maybe being gunshy was ultimately the right call. For his long term health anyway, maybe not his bank account.

-1978-

-1987-

gilgamesh wrote: ↑16 Oct 2025, 16:45 It's not uncommon for a guy to start to become gunshy after being knocked out, but it's a little unusual to see a guy be gunshy for the rest of his career after simply being hurt.

He was never stopped though so maybe being gunshy was ultimately the right call. For his long term health anyway, maybe not his bank account.

Rosario was one of the biggest hitters in lightweight and jr. welterweight history, and a good boxer when he was patient, which wasn't always the case. I thought he won the Camacho fight but Camacho clearly backed off after being hurt because he'd never been rattled like that. He probably did OK in the bank account department considering he got paid well to fight a shot Mancini, Haugen, Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya. All of those were money fights then and vs Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya, he knew going in he just wanted to last the distance

giacomino wrote: ↑17 Oct 2025, 06:50

gilgamesh wrote: ↑16 Oct 2025, 16:45 It's not uncommon for a guy to start to become gunshy after being knocked out, but it's a little unusual to see a guy be gunshy for the rest of his career after simply being hurt.

He was never stopped though so maybe being gunshy was ultimately the right call. For his long term health anyway, maybe not his bank account.

Rosario was one of the biggest hitters in lightweight and jr. welterweight history, and a good boxer when he was patient, which wasn't always the case. I thought he won the Camacho fight but Camacho clearly backed off after being hurt because he'd never been rattled like that. He probably did OK in the bank account department considering he got paid well to fight a shot Mancini, Haugen, Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya. All of those were money fights then and vs Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya, he knew going in he just wanted to last the distance

Even though Hector "Macho" Camacho fought those guys you mentioned, he could take a shot. Julio Cesar Chavez kicked his azz very bad, but he didn't go down at any point.

Has Camacho ever been knocked down?

elmersalsa wrote: ↑17 Oct 2025, 08:56

giacomino wrote: ↑17 Oct 2025, 06:50

gilgamesh wrote: ↑16 Oct 2025, 16:45 It's not uncommon for a guy to start to become gunshy after being knocked out, but it's a little unusual to see a guy be gunshy for the rest of his career after simply being hurt.

He was never stopped though so maybe being gunshy was ultimately the right call. For his long term health anyway, maybe not his bank account.

Rosario was one of the biggest hitters in lightweight and jr. welterweight history, and a good boxer when he was patient, which wasn't always the case. I thought he won the Camacho fight but Camacho clearly backed off after being hurt because he'd never been rattled like that. He probably did OK in the bank account department considering he got paid well to fight a shot Mancini, Haugen, Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya. All of those were money fights then and vs Chavez, Trinidad and De La Hoya, he knew going in he just wanted to last the distance

Even though Hector "Macho" Camacho fought those guys you mentioned, he could take a shot. Julio Cesar Chavez kicked his azz very bad, but he didn't go down at any point.

Has Camacho ever been knocked down?

Yes, but the fact that he wasn’t very often speaks
to both his durability and his ability to evade hard punches. After Rosario he was hard to catch squarely. Is he in your top 100 list?

For which fight did you first notice that Hector Comacho was not as fast as he once had been ?
He of course naturally got older and reflexes go downhill and put on weight like most people, but I heard he also started lifting weights
at some point.