I don't think Camacho "ran" as much as the commentators implied. This was a good fight. Anyhow, I love that he was always respectful after every fight, even when he beat Mancini. Truly a humble, sweet person on the inside.
If a fighters has a defensive style, commentators tend to claim they love to run. As much as I hate Mayweather's , I wouldnt say he's a coward, his defensive fighting style win him fights, why should he care about those critics...
Yup, Camacho didn't "run," but he moved a lot. Like Mayweather, he was always within reach. But he didn't stand still and trade. It's the opponent's job to cut off the ring and land his shots.
Yes, Camacho fought less defensively here than subsequent fights. I think he knew Davis didn't have a hard punch and he wasn't scared like in some later fights. Davis was no pushover, he han fought to a draw with a young Meldrick Taylor in 86. I think this was Camacho's last really good performance. After this win, he should have gone for a Junior Welterweight title but, instead, fought very sparingly. He had a window of opportunity after this fight to cement Hall of Fame status, but he blew it. After almost a year of inactivity, In summer 88 he was floored by a decent but not great fighter Reyes Cruz and fought very defensively in winning a lackluster decision. He looked terrible against a very rusty Ray Mancini in 89. That fight was very close. He beat Pazienza in early 90 but in my opinion fought well below the standard he showed here in the Davis fight. If Camacho had stayed focused and fought champions Patricio Oliva or Juan Coggi, or even Roger Mayweather later in 87 or early 88 I believe he would have won a legitimate Junior Welterweight Title and could have even dropped down and fought Chavez at 135. A fight at that time would have been more competitive than the one they fought In 92.
I totally agree with this. Camacho lost his opportunity to become an all time great in the time period after this fight. The drugs just caught up to him I think. Wasted talent. Truly a shame.
This is coming off of the golden age of the lghtwieght division which began with True Champs Alexis Arguell and concluded with Julio C Chavez but featured Edwin Rosario, livingstone bramble, Howard Davis, Jim Watts, Greg Haugen, Hilmer Kenty, Andy Ganigan, and of course the Matinee Idols promoted by the TV Networks - Vinny Pazienza, Hector Camacho, boom boom mancini and Sean o'grady. Of course promoters broke up the division after Roberto Duran moved up and everybody protected their own prizes. So we didn't see many good fights that should've happened.
@Jayson Sosa Yeah, I do feel Ray hated on Camacho to an extent. But Howard was his friend, and I think he truly wanted him to do well. And yeah, he did probably feel that jealousy at that time to Hector as well, so he was hating on him somewhat.
This is 1987, Machos' prime was 83 to 86, from 130 to 135. After Rosario fight he never fought the same, and he was having manager probs before and after. Camacho was more aggressive before this and his speed was brilliant, which he still had, and inactivity. After this it was 1988 and he fought twice vs nobody, and by 1989 he had a big fight vs Mancini who was off for three years and he barely got by most thought he lost but Camacho got a SD and in 1990 Meldrick vs Chavez were much bigger jr welters than Camacho who got by Pazienza yet lost a close decision to Haugen in 1991
Excellent performance by Hector. Especially the body punching. Howard looked listless. Don't know what his problem was. Did he age overnight? Or was it Camacho's brilliance? Either way, I feel for the guy. I'm sure "frustrating" doesn't come close to describing how Davis feels coming out of the '76 Olympics, never winning a professional title, and watching his friend become a boxing superstar.
If you look at Camacho in this fight, even in post fight interview, he looked serious and didnt come up with his typical "macho" attitude. He certainly looked sharp in this fight. His footwork was great and he had zip on his punches unlike when he fought Haugen.
Camacho "If I'm too complicated for the people, just tune in.." It wasn't complicated, it was frustrating. With all the money fighters in the lightwieght division, TV stuck us with a wonderful track athlete.
The fight is a microcosym of Davis's career. Not enough greatness in the greatest era of lightweight fighters. Arguello, Julio Chavez, Roserio, Camacho, Mancini, Pazienza, Watt, Haugen, O'Grady, Bramble and somewhere down there is Howard Davis Jr and many top rate fighters. Camacho could've been near the top had he been a money fighter - he was the first Mayweather in a Pacquiao world.
Few realize that comacho was a black belt in karate before boxing. He won several contest but at the the time there was no money in martial arts competition. Boxing was his second trade. This is the fight that Leonard said he had never seen a fighter with hand and foot speed like Camacho. Unfortunately, Camacho destroyed his career and life with drugs. 80s.
This was nearing the end of Davis's career, one of his last 10 fights, Camacho was just about in his Prime, so a big difference how they performed here.
Rspene smit He did. And was voted as one of the best amateur boxers of all time. But, he was just like Leo Randolph. Not much success at the pro level. I think he should have done more weight training and also trained to strengthen his jaws and neck.
I read a big article on him years ago, it said that he really did not like boxing, and that he only did it to have a future without working, and live a good life, he absolutely hated it, did not like any part of it, so his heart & soul were not into it.
Rspene smit Then he came back from retirement because he was bored working for a brokerage. Came back as a jr middle and was TKO'd by Dana Rosenblatt. Vinnie Paz's whipping boy Dana .
African warlord Howard, as a professional, didn't do as good as he should of. He made a lot of bad moves business wise, that hurt his career. Nice guy, actually contacted him on Myspace, and he was nice and cool in his response, but his early moves affected his later career.BTW, I think prime Davis jr beats prime Camacho and Mayweather as well.
Howard had the flu for this fight and didn’t want to cancel it !!! You can Google this . Also I didn’t know he said his speed and legs weren’t there in this fight ( I noticed he didn’t look right) and he did bloodied Camacho’s nose . Hector said himself that he saw he wasn’t going to hit Howard in the head too much, so he went after the body .
+16nowhereman i think that Howard Davis was too much of a defensive fighter he was more concerned with not getting hit and ran around in most of his fights maybe if he was more agressive and he could have won a title i believe that he wasted too much time in his fights running when he should have been throwing punches
+16nowhereman No way he's the only Olympic champion not to have won a world title. He's not even the only US Olympic champ to not have won one. RIP to him.
+16nowhereman Not true . The only US gold medalist in 1976 to not win a world title . Leon Spinks and Mike Spinks did. Leonard and Leo Randolph did . Even bronze medalist John Tate won a world title.
@@curtisjones400 Howard Davis did not run in his champion fight against Rosario, in fact he was the aggressor in that fight, but he got drop in the last round, and in up losing, and getting rob of a world title because he got careless, but he had two chances at the world title.
No Comacho fight were money fights, he was the first Mayweather a great enough athlete to prevent an actual fight from breaking out - and neither cared about the BOO's. "Macho" should have long been dropped from his name. NO money fights cause the public never demanded it.
Great fight, but I used lived in Clewiston, Florida, and I used to watch Camacho sparring section. Looking at this fight, reminded me of Camacho sparring partner. Camacho sparred with this kid from Puerto Rico, who used to beat the shit at of Camacho. He standard toe to toe to Camacho, and beat his body, and he was faster than Camacho. That is why, Camacho changed his strategy of fighting. Anybody knows his name, and if anybody knows if he became a champion.
A past his prime Howard Davis Jr fought a young Meldrick Taylor and Hector Camacho within a year I believe. Two of the fastest boxers EVER in their prime! When young himself Davis was just as fast as they were.
Camacho was cocky on the outside but humble and scared on the inside. After Rosario beat him from pillar to post in their fight, he learned the virtue of getting on your bicycle.
