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I've been around the boxing world

for a long time,

as an agent and then a filmmaker.

And I've told a lot of stories about the sport

and its great characters.

- Hello, how are you? - Hi.

Okay, sweetheart.

Out of all the fighters I've known,

none were as unforgettable as Hector "Macho" Camacho.

He was seven years... seven years.

He was a little boy.

"Mommy, I'm going to be boxer, Mommy.

"You'll have everything,

"I'm going to buy you everything, Mommy.

"I'm going to buy you a house, I'm going to buy a car,

and you are going to be special."

I said, "Oh no, my son not gonna be boxing.

Oh no, you touch my son, I'll kill you."

Let's go.

He was a very good son.

Everything I asked him,

"Don't worry, Mommy. I got you.

I got you, Mommy."

Anything I need, Macho was there.

Introducing in the blue corner,

fighting out of New York City, New York,

ladies and gentlemen, here is the very colorful

Hector "Macho" Camacho!

He looks like a young child,

he's bubbly, he smiles a lot,

and he'll knock your head off if you're not careful.

Macho was the kind of boxer

you never wanted to miss fight.

I don't think I've seen such a bundle

of energy and talent

and sheer nerves since Muhammad Ali.

He was the kind of star

who never seemed to run out of surprises.

Hector -And I'm pound for pound, the best...

I'm the best fighter pound for pound in the world!

Bring 'em on!

Bring 'em on! Bring 'em on!

He was a tremendous fighter.

Tremendous talent.

He's just truly amazing.

He seems to have it all.

And he has the flair for the dramatic.

He was a pioneer.

Are you gonna wear the same thing

into the ring again?

Come on, man.

It's never the same thing.

Never the same thing.

But boxing sometimes can be too damn Shakespearean.

It's got its beautiful stories,

but it's got its share of sad ones, too.

Hector's mother, Maria!

Here from New York.

You take a kid like this

that comes from where he came from,

and he gets to the pinnacle of success

in a tough world.

One of the toughest businesses there are.

Fighting! And he gets to the top.

And then they go over!

Hector Camacho!

But at the end,

it's almost like the tragedy had to be.

It's too bad.

Hector "Macho" Camacho

passed away this morning

at a hospital in Puerto Rico.

Camacho and a friend were shot

earlier this week as they sat in a car

outside a liquor store.

The gunman got away,

and the motive is not known.

Hector "Macho" Camacho

was 50 years old.

Seven years are gone already.

They killed my baby.

They no find nobody who killed Macho.

Who killed Macho?

Who killed my son?

Like boxing itself,

the story of Hector Camacho isn't simple.

But to understand the confusion

around his death,

you need to first understand

the improbability of his life.

In aviation, we're taught that there are

a chain of events that create an accident.

The bullet that killed Macho in Puerto Rico...

started its journey many years ago.

I came from the street.

I had all my hopes in it from head to toe.

I got my mother a house. I got cars forever.

Well known, well loved.

I'm making it for the people that never made it.

I'm making it for people that ain't gonna make it.

Macho time!

Will you say to me, ten years from now,

- it's worth the risk? - It's worth the risk.

Every bit of it.

In the 1970s and '80s,

the center of the boxing universe

was West 33rd Street,

between 7th and 8th Avenues

in New York City,

Madison Square Garden.

-And here we go. Paul DeVorce in the gold,

Hector Camacho in the blue, 118 pound open.

And for any aspiring fighter,

there was no tougher baptism by fire

than the Golden Gloves Championships.

Macho does not stand in one place too long.

Goes in, takes a shot, and gets out of there.

Randy -I used to go to all the Golden Glove fights.

And I saw this kid, this speedy little kid,

and I'm like, "Oh my God, who is this?"

And the more he fought,

the more I fell in love with him.

Macho's a smart fighter.

He was a southpaw,

which gave him an advantage.

Left hand by Camacho.

But his hand speed was fantastic.

So, right away, I sensed this was a special kid.

That's it.

That's the end of the bout.

The 118 pound open champion,

Camacho!

Hector Camacho from Spanish Harlem.

Spanish Harlem is about 80 blocks north

of Madison Square Garden.

Its history as the center

of New York's Puerto Rican population

dates back to the 1940s and '50s,

when people from the island brought their music,

their food, and their infectious energy

to carve out a neighborhood bursting with life.

We came from Puerto Rico straight to New York.

I was five, Hector was four.

We were close, brothers and sisters

raised in The Projects.

We used to do a lot

of crazy things in the house, play around or play karate.

That was Macho's favorite,

karate, 'cause Bruce Lee was his idol.

He used to break my mother's broom and mop

to make.

You know, karate?

We didn't have no broom 'cause that's what he used to do.

He like, he likes to fight.

That was his stuff, he used to like to fight.

People used to call me Little Man

around the street.

I was always looking for excitement to fight

and all of us in the boys club,

trying to beat on bigger kids, you know,

just to get a reputation of a fighter.

I always saw him after school

'cause he always had a fight after school.

There was somebody that was getting beat up

at three o'clock in the school parking lot.

Weren't you expelled from school,

- like, a couple times? - -I wasn't expelled.

Expelled is not the word. I was thrown out.

I was thrown out of six schools.

I was, uh, I visited six psychiatrists,

and they never found nothing crazy in me.

Hector drove us crazy.

Hector was a smaller kid.

I remember an incident, one of the other seventh graders,

who was a bigger kid,

made the mistake of wanting to take him on.

Hector just...

Pow, pow, pow, pow. Hit the guy, then stamp him with my feet.

We, we in a fight. We in war.

He's trying to hurt me.

He gave me a lot of trouble in school.

Every day I had to put my boots, my coat, I run to the office.

Who got in the office? Macho fighting in the school.

But really, though, I wasn't really

a bad kind of guy, like I want to hurt people.

It was everything just adventurous, you know.

Mischief, anything that he can get into,

but he would turn it into something

where you would laugh. You never angry at him.

One night, he showed up, he was driving a car.

He said, "Come on, let's go for a ride."

Only to find out we went to White Castle in the Bronx,

had a great evening. I said, "Bro, whose car?"

He go like, "I just stole it for the night, Rocko.

I'll call you tomorrow."

I just spent two hours in a stolen car with you?

When he was sixteen,

Hector got caught stealing one of those cars

and served time on Rikers Island.

And when he got back home,

it soon became clear

that stealing cars was not his only problem.

He was around 17 years.

And one time, I took him in bathroom,

he said, "Mommy, I'm going to the bathroom.

I'm going to do something. Please don't knock the door."

I said, "What you going to do?"

That was the first time I catch him.

"What you going to do? You're going to use drugs?

"You're going to push something in your skin

or something, Macho?"

"No, Mommy. No, Mommy! No." "Okay.

Hey, you all right, there?"

"Yes, Mom! Yes, Mommy."

I said, "What? You doing something.

"You got cold or something, your nose?

Give me that."

Fwah! Fwah!

Flush the toilet,

it went down to the toilet, he said,

"There go my money, Mommy.

You know how much that cost?"

"I don't care how much.

Your life cost more than that."

So, my mother told him, you got to stop.

You got to do something.

That's when he began to go, you know,

started going to the gym.

Jefferson Plaza was the only sense of recreation

that we had.

And we always went there just for the girls.

And in there, they had a, they had a gym,

and that was the first time

that we all got a taste of the boxing.

And the one that attached the most to it was Camacho.

Camacho made a decision that summer

that he was gonna get into boxing.

Here's Camacho when he was, uh, doing the lightweight,

and I made him North American champion.

We were about to turn him pro. He wasn't pro yet.

I first met Camacho

when he was about 12, 13 years old.

He's asking me different questions.

I used to show him little things.

He was persistent. He kept asking me over and over,

how you do this?

He showed me that he had not only heart,

that he was daring.

I seen that when he was a kid that he liked to fight.

He was always in fights: street fights, alley fights,

gang fights, school fights, family fights,

just fights to be fighting, that's all, you know.

It's in him. You know, it's like Michelangelo

was born to paint pictures.

Hector Camacho was born to knock guys out.

He was a teenager.

Wild.

Undisciplined.

And I had discipline.

I knew what he had. I got it out of him.

He actually put all his energy and everything

that he knew

used to get in trouble when he was a young kid

and put it to work for him.

I started really working with him.

I actually showed him how to piv,

how to side step, and how to dip.

Do you know who his hero was?

Bruce Lee.

Wasn't no boxer. It was Bruce Lee.

I was always the biggest Bruce Lee fanatic,

and that's where my style comes in.

A lot of defense, a lot of movement.

God gave him everything he was supposed to have

as far as I feel.

Fast, smart.

Tell him something, he could see the picture.

Strong, determined, and hungry.

He had a gift,

and it was recognized early.

I saw something in him that others didn't believe.

They felt he was gonna amount to nothing.

I took time in teaching him.

I would rough him, I would yell at him.

Would talk like big brother or father.

'Cause he really didn't have a father.

I used to live there in the fifth floor.

When I came around, I was nine years old.

Yeah. Then I went to Puerto Rico.

That's where I meet, uh, Macho's father.

I get married over there, everything. Yes.

I married him when I was 14

and he was 17.

Eh! You young, you know.

He was a drinking mate. He used to drink a lot.

And Macho said, "Mommy, why you marry a man like that?"

I said, "That's your father."

Ohh!

"You's a good mother, you's a good woman,

why you marry a man like that?"

I said, "I don't know. I was crazy."

I did not think.

He was abusive.

We used to see him beating on her, when we were small,

we'd come out to the windows, the fire escapes.

My mother used to put us under the bed.

Me and Macho saw a lot.

We had to see her all bruised up.

He used to come home drunk, beat on her.

And my mother used to be moving to different places

just to try to stay away from him.

We used to see my mother struggle.

Five o'clock in the morning on the welfare,

standing on line.

We went cold, no lights.

She struggled with us, uh, so...

He never really discussed that,

but I know it affected him and wanted him to provide

'cause he, he wanted to be the man of the house, of course.

He took it upon himself to do that at an early age.

He didn't have no education

nor did he have a trade.

Boxing was a way out for him.

And that's why he took boxing serious.

You know, through the amateurs

everywhere we went, we was winning.

I always prove people wrong.

They never thought I was going to come this far.

Kid Glove, Junior Olympic champion,

Empire State Games, Golden Gloves.

Every fight I ain't supposed to win.

"You gonna be alright. You gonna bypass 'em all."

And he did.

Hector was an impressive

96 and four as an amateur.

And the next step was turning pro in 1980.

He hails from Spanish Harlem,

Hector Camacho.

Figueroa covering up.

I don't think he's gonna get up.

First 10 fights was like

first round knockouts.

Then you know he's a promising champ.

The fight is over.

Girls would be screaming all the time.

Yay! Yay!

Hey, Little Man!

But then after that, he changed his whole thing.

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

And Camacho, wherever he was,

just drew a large crowd, and he was very flashy.

There was something about Camacho

that made you look at him.

And it wasn't just the flash. It was the boxing ability, too.

Moving. Moving. Doing the footwork,

you know, doing the fakes.

Here, I spin you,

I could push you off balance.

This upper cut is coming.

Again, again, you continue, you don't stop.

Spin the guy. Crack him.

He had a jab, here's a jab.

You turn it over, right? That's a conventional jab.

You turn it over, you protect your chin into your shoulder,

and you bring it back on a straight line, right?

That's a jab. Pow! He didn't do this.

That took a tenth of a second longer.

He did this. Pow!

That was why he got it there

so straight and so quick.

Pow!

He invented his own jab.

I call it the Trip Hammer.

In the early '80s,

it was a fantastic time in boxing.

You had so many superstars.

You had Larry Holmes, Ray Leonard,

Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler,

Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Gomez.

Camacho was a little different from all of them.

And CBS Television was smart enough, very early,

to realize we're, we're hitching our star to this kid.

Well, Tim, now that Sugar Ray here is retired,

I think that Hector Camacho could become

the new Mr. Excitement of boxing.

He seems to have it all.

He made himself known.

He was a colorful guy right from the start.

He just kind of captivated us.

And we were starting to become really the boxing network.

So he became one of our star guys.

Hector "Macho" Camacho

and John Montes Jr.

An important lightweight bout of course

for Camacho en route to what he hopes will be

a title shot at the 130 pound...

Someone thought of a great idea,

and the next thing you know, we had bought a fight

against John Montes in the state of Alaska.

Alaska. Even the sound of it

holds a certain mystery.

The look of it is bewitching.

Jagged mountain peaks

and snow-quilted tundra teeming with wildlife...

All the way in Alaska,

which has never been fought before.

"Eddie, you're killing me, me go to Alaska,

"a kid from Spanish Harlem?

The hell am I gonna do in Alaska?"

CBS Prime Time channel two. And I'm like, wow.

And he's like a big kid, you know.

He's jumping up and down, "We in Alaska!

We in Alaska! We in Alaska."

And I was like, "Okay, okay, okay."

You have to be the first Puerto Rican-born fighter

to ever become a musher. What was it like?

Oh, it was good. It was like driving a Cadillac.

There was always something about Hector

that was a lot of fun.

You were always happy to see him.

Did you give the dogs names,

or did you find out what their names were?

No. All I was going is mush, mush!

He was hard not to like.

But before the night of the fight,

we got a call in our hotel

and one of his handlers, in great stress said,

"You know, you've got to come over here."

"Well, get him on the phone."

He's trying to jump out a window.

And he was completely out of his mind, drug wise.

You know, talked him out of it, calmed down,

and I got him out of the danger.

Then the concern was

"How's he going to be fight time?"

Hector "Macho" Camacho!

Dan, this is by far

the most dangerous opponent

that Camacho has faced.

And the next day,

you wouldn't have known anything had happened.

Camacho told me he was going to go right out

and jump on him in the first round.

Let's see if he does it.

There was domination there.

He threw the punches he wanted to throw,

moved the way he wanted to move

and did what he wanted to do.

Oh, solid left uppercut

and down goes Montes.

He is in trouble.

And it is all over.

Hector "Macho" Camacho!

A startling first round knockout.

And he showed everything that he could be

the superstar that he could be.

And there is chaos in the ring.

We were grateful for the fact

that he had recovered and the fight went on,

but it was a source of great concern to us

from that point forward because we knew

he was dealing, you know, with the demons.

So, Hector Camacho continues to prove

that he is the real thing.

Folks here in Alaska, they saw

the one-punch power of "Macho" Camacho.

If the Montes fight revealed the best

of Camacho in the ring,

it also was a reminder of the realities of life

in the streets where he'd come from.

This is Spanish Harlem.

Streets where handguns are as common

as truants and drugs.

There's been high unemployment

in the Hispanic community.

Harlem families told of begging,

borrowing, or even stealing

to put food on the table.

Good evening. There was a gunfight tonight

at an East Harlem grocery store.

Robbers on the one side, the police on the other...

Grew up in an infested area

where we see junkies on the floor...

and drug dealers trying to recruit you.

There was nothing else, but there was always drugs.

There was no food, but we had drugs.

From the moment we were born, we were just trying

to find something.

But with Hector Camacho now on the scene,

the people of Spanish Harlem found a new hero,

and Hector was born for the role.

Wo-Hey, look at you. Come here.

- Okay. - You look nice!

- Yeah, look at you! - I try.

Looking cute!

He was the pride of Spanish Harlem.

It's 'cause he came from the Barrio.

This the neighborhood cops here.

Get in there! Get in there!

And that's why it meant a lot to the community.

What kind of guy is he?

One of the best.

Nice to have around here?

I think the best thing ever happened

to the neighborhood.

He is the thing that this neighborhood needs.

But a lot of people grow up in this neighborhood

and don't make it the way you have.

What I had going for myself was a boxing career

and I started getting recognition.

And I always wanted it,

so I'm a big role model out there.

Everybody looks up to me

and they know me and they support me,

and they want me to go out there

and represent myself

as one of the baddest, toughest Puerto Ricans ever.

They want to see me establish greatness.

And on his way to greatness in 1983,

Hector now 21 and 0,

got his first shot at a world title in Puerto Rico

against Rafael "Bazooka" Limon.

The rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico

in boxing is legendary.

And Limon was a great Mexican warrior

and a tough guy. Perfect for Camacho.

Well, today, he will have an opportunity

to show the fans down on the island

his skills in person.

Remember, he was born just a few miles

from here in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

And it's the first time that he has fought here...

He was raised in New York,

and his career had already started

and taken shape in the United States.

He wasn't fully accepted.

He wasn't the hometown guy,

but nonetheless,

he was a Puerto Rican against a Mexican.

A very live crowd,

awaiting the start of this bout

with high anticipation.

He was antsy, and the promoters were saying

he's supposed to be in his room asleep or laying down.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're supposed to be getting your rest."

"I'm fine."

He couldn't just sit there. That was not him.

Here he is, the most colorful figure

in boxing today,

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

He has the Puerto Rican flag on his head.

To be back in Puerto Rico

was a big deal for him.

As you can see, just unable to move.

The aisles are clogged,

and he's unable to come forward.

There's no question

when that fight began,

he knew he had to win it,

because the fans expected him to win it.

The Limon fight was

the coming-out party for Camacho.

Letting the people, you know, get to know him, see him,

feel good about him.

Claim him.

And, uh, the usual

Macho Man presentation being made here.

He was on stage, the curtain came back...

Macho and Limon.

Limon ranked number three, Camacho number one.

And he shined.

And the bells for round number one.

Richard Steele, the referee, calls them

to the center of the ring.

A quick start by Camacho who landed a left hand

that knocked Limon back into his corner.

Limon takes a real good punch, but when Camacho hits you,

sometimes you don't see the punch coming.

It's Camacho's speed and prowess there.

It's just truly amazing.

I called a number of his fights.

He was just slick. He was super fast,

strong, real confidant.

I like the way he dances as he's punching.

It's like on the dance floor.

His footwork was just incredible.

Movement, the uppercuts, and the hooks, and the...

He had the whole package.

Down goes Limon on the left hand at the bell.

Combination to the head sends Limon

right through the ropes.

And that is all. Richard Steele has stopped the fight.

Hector Camacho has scored a fifth round knockout

and won the vacant WBC super featherweight crown.

For Macho to defeat

a major important Mexican fighter,

that was, that was a crowning moment for him

to the Puerto Rican people.

Hector "Macho" Camacho,

enjoying his triumph in the arms of his mother.

Macho Camacho's mama!

Every people, "Whoa, Maria! Love you, Maria!

Macho! Macho! Macho! Yeah!"

We have fun that day.

It was kind of like hitting

The Ed Sullivan Show,

and when The Beatles got there,

and now you knew who The Beatles were.

That day, you knew who Camacho was.

There wasn't any doubt in your mind about winning this?

I keep telling you, I'm going to be

a three-time champion,

'cause I'm the Macho Man

and I'm dominating the game.

It's my time! Macho time!

- What time is it? - Macho time

As a world champion, Hector's profile took off.

He was on his way to becoming a household name,

and his fame was already about a lot more

than just his boxing.

He just exploded onto the scene.

There's nobody like me right now,

at this moment.

People like me, Elvis. I mean, hey...

The cars that he used to steal one time, now he was buying.

He used to pick me up at school with the Lamborghini.

When he had the Lamborghini, the doors that opens,

when they first came out.

When I came outside, I said, "Oh, my brother, my brother!"

He was so charismatic.

He would see you in the street and he would hug you

as if you were the best friend he had ever had.

He loved to have a good time.

The way I dress, the way I dance,

sexiness about me. I love it.

Uh... Macho was crazy.

Macho was like, he didn't copy from nobody.

He didn't want the things that you want.

He wanted to be different.

He used to make all his outfits.

I'm very creative.

And I started drawing.

See, now this will be a jumpsuit.

Maybe suede in black.

So I come up with things like this,

and I start analyzing myself, you know,

and I come up with things like this.

So it makes me very different, you know.

He was very, uh, outrageous,

uh, flamboyant, ostentatious.

All those words that mean, pow, here's me!

He brought another dimension to the sport.

During one fight, Macho,

wanted me to go in the ring with him.

He said, "I can't be the only Indian."

And I'm like, "Are you serious?"

This is live television.

I'm dancing around in Indian,

doing an Indian war dance with him.

I tell you what,

they broke the mold when they invented

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

He is special for sure.

It wasn't a costume.

Those were his suit of armor.

He became those costumes, this character in the ring.

That was his flag in the ground, you know.

Oh, yeah.

It went to his mantra. "What time is it?"

Macho time! Macho time!

I like Batman, I love Superman

and the Lone Ranger, and, uh, Zorro, you know.

You put all of those superheroes together,

there's nobody like the Macho Man, you know.

People going to just sit back and say, wow,

you know, i-i-it's a dream.

He was comfortable in that skin

because he wanted to entertain.

He wanted to be liked.

He wanted to be thought of

as something worthwhile.

Mr. President.

Champ. How are you?

Well, I've been all around the world.

I met ambassadors, presidents,

I mean, I'm... I'm important.

I'm important 'cause of boxing.

A little cockroach that was crawling around the ghetto.

For at least a moment, after Sugar Ray Leonard

and before Mike Tyson, Hector "Macho" Camacho

was the biggest name in boxing.

But alongside all the success and fame,

some things started to change.

There was a period where you weren't happy, right?

Well, you know, every... It's a learning process.

When you're in the learning process,

you get frustrated, you know,

you quite don't see things right,

you kind of like don't understand.

I wasn't trained for this.

At the beginning of his career,

everything was great.

It was about his family.

After that, new people came around,

you know, different managers,

trainers, different people around him.

So this start changing.

Talking about how great he was, he don't need me,

and he don't need this guy.

See what happens.

But I said, you know what?

If that's how y'all feel...

you know, I walk away.

But I was no longer there to enforce anything.

That's when things fell apart.

What happened with Camacho, he became an overnight sensation.

You know, the championships come with serious partying.

The excitement of winning, the people.

There was never running out of anything.

So how much can we consume?

How much partying can we do?

How much drinking can we do?

And next thing you know, he's on a course,

two or three weeks later, no food, no sleep,

and we can't bring him down.

Right now, people thinking that

I'm a juvenile delinquent,

people constantly coming on to me,

destroying me, destroying me.

I said, dang, you know, when you can't breathe,

can't breathe.

Open, open, open the window, you see?

I got on that plane.

I'm leaving in the jet plane.

Don't know when I'll be back again.

He just wanted his solace.

He just wanted his tranquility.

He wanted to be away from everybody.

Little salt.

Little canela.

Everyday four o'clock in the morning,

sometimes three o'clock in the morning,

"Mommy, get up. Mommy, get up!

Make me my oatmeal!"

I said "This time?" He don't care, he eat it.

Mommy's avena, her oatmeal, my mother's. Oh!

That was one of his favorites. Mm-hmm.

When he wanted avena, Mommy will make him his avena.

He used to eat it. He would sleep for hours

and hours and hours.

Sugar.

This was like his little secret place.

So when he will come, he will come sober,

and it was to sleep and eat and relax.

- Mm-hmm. - You know, relax.

He used to stay there for weeks and weeks.

"No, don't tell Mommy about all this"

going on with the cocaine.

But I find out.

"I can feel that you're doing something wrong," I said.

Good.

"Mommy, I won't tell you,

but I'm not going to do it in front of you, you know."

I say you have to stop that.

Something might happen to you, I'm going to die.

And that was always the little rumble

I used to have with him.

You know, he needs to stop that.

You know, that's no good for you.

You know, we used to fight with people

that was around him,

that we knew

that was giving it to him.

No, so we used to always... baaaaah.

He used to leave, disappear.

I'm going through all these mental stumbles,

you know, not wanting to break away,

you know, from something that I come from.

But I'm the Macho Man, you see, the street life.

You know, it's fun.

He was a little reckless,

you know.

It was just who he was.

Hector became a father when he was only 16.

It was tough.

One time, we was in Puerto Rico,

I'm probably like eight years old, man, nine years old.

In the morning, I heard the phone ringing.

I looked around my father wasn't around.

So I got up, grabbed the phone.

Hello.

Papi! My father told me. I said, "Pops, where you at?"

"Listen, I'm in Florida." We in Puerto Rico.

He said, "Listen, I'm in Florida.

"I'll be here for three days.

Look under the pillow."

I went to his bed, look under the pillow.

Bunch of money there.

Grabbed the money.

Went back, "Yeah, Pops, you left some money here."

"No, no, that's for you. I'm in Florida."

He left me in a hotel, went to another state.

"That's the money, if you need anything, use it."

He's a kid. He's a big kid. That's just who he was.

But emotionally, he was, he was a wreck.

Two sides.

Less than a year into his reign

as super featherweight champ,

the pressure seemed to get to Hector,

and he took more than six months off.

When he returned to the ring against Louie Burke,

there were plenty of signs of the turmoil

he was going through.

Hector had been through one of his bad spells,

so we were a little concerned

about what shape he would be in

to put on a fight on our network.

Well, he did well.

Not his greatest performance, but he was solid.

He won the fight.

Hector Camacho

with, if you want to call it a comeback fight.

Boy, it feels good being back!

I love it! Yeah, buddy!

All right. Now, one other thing...

In the post-match interview,

suddenly he was crying.

And what about the... What, what message have you got

for all your fans out there?

I just feel great.

I just hope everybody keeps supporting me,

be my friend. Because I need friends.

Hector, you're upset and you've won the fight.

There's no reason to be upset, young man.

I know the future is very much ahead of you.

He got his head on my shoulder and was weeping.

And then he said, you know, I need friends.

I want to have my,

hope my friends will keep loving me.

And it was really quite a moment.

This is still a young man

who feels that not everybody loves him.

He's come through a difficult period.

And I think that was a genuine moment

of emotion for Hector Camacho.

He had a lot of demons,

and a lot of that gets overlooked

because of the power of his personality.

But you can't overlook all of it.

You never knew what you were gonna get with Camacho.

Macho was a champion fighter

from the moment that bell rang

to the end of that bell.

And then that's when the demon came back.

But when he said it's over and he shook it off,

he became an amazing prodigy of boxing.

Don't blink an eye 'cause Macho Man is back.

I'm back. I'm way back!

By the middle of 1986, he was 28 and 0.

Set to face one of his toughest opponents yet,

Puerto Rico's Edwin Rosario in Madison Square Garden.

Edwin Rosario was a hell of a puncher.

Basically one punch knockout hitter.

Left hook or right hand, he could end the fight.

But you thought going in,

he's not gonna touch Camacho.

No one touches Camacho.

Camacho doesn't get hit, he's too quick.

You know, that Edwin Rosario fight,

it was his toughest fight.

He believed in his talent,

and he had a yearning to show it.

Good left hand by Camacho.

Good left hand again.

That one got Rosario's attention.

And a five-punch combination.

Camacho appears to have seized command

of the fight at this point.

Check out the chants of Macho, Macho!

I thought he was doing a great job,

and then all of a sudden...

There's the left hook.

Very good exchange.

And a good right hand too.

That snapped Camacho away for the moment.

A left hand! And Camacho's hurt!

Rosario is right on him!

That was the first time

that he really got hit.

Hit!

When you get hit hard,

you just get rocked.

You feel funny.

You start, you know,

seeing that person, like, go like that.

Your heart starts pumping.

And then you say I'm all right.

He's hurt bad.

I'm all right.

Camacho now bleeding

from the nose as well as the eye.

Camacho has never been in this kind of trouble.

Now we'll see the kind of champion he is.

You all right?

All right. He's all right.

- You all right, Hector? - Yeah.

Camacho is gonna be pushed

to the limit in this fight.

Now, there were a couple of punches,

and it came like that. And now he's jumped on Rosario.

He stood his ground.

He never fell. He never fell. He never got knocked out.

He stood toe to toe.

Camacho moves in.

And he never backed out, and that's the champion

that he was, that is the heart of a lion.

That's what boxing is.

Camacho got caught with that left hook,

but he survived it.

The great ones survive it.

That's part of what makes them great.

The winner, Hector "Macho" Camacho!

It was his first fight that he had to use something

other than skill to win.

It was called will.

Hector... Hector, that one tested

your character a little bit.

You were being smacked around pretty good.

Larry, to be honest,

this is the first fight I ever got hit consistent.

It was a close fight

I'll be the first one to admit it,

but I was the more skillful fighter,

and I proved it.

I remember after that fight,

we go to the hotel,

you know, he kept on saying to me, he's like,

"How do I look?"

He was, he was beat up.

And he didn't understand it.

He didn't understand it.

He goes...

"Wow, this is what I've been doing to people all along.

I don't like it. I don't like to get hit."

He was so conscious of,

of how everybody now perceived him.

'Cause now he didn't feel like he was the Macho Man.

He was exposed a little bit.

"Now what am I gonna do?"

I didn't know whether he was going

to continue boxing.

Like, he was like really, really, really shook

after that.

He changed from that point on.

There was a borning of a new Camacho.

Where it started to go crooked, it started to go the wrong way.

There was a side of him that was never the same

after the Rosario fight.

He became more of a survivor and less of a fighter.

The major story in this fight

is that Camacho, can he be the Macho Man?

And he started to figure, you know what?

I'm not going to walk in and try to slug with anybody.

I am going to use all my assets, my speed,

to keep the hell away.

Davis again becoming more assertive.

Macho backing up.

A kid like Camacho, there are certain insecurities

that, that kind of bark at that door.

There's always something barking at that door

saying, I want to prove

that I'm better than people said I was.

There's always something, it's never far away

from that fricking door.

And then the thing that we see that gets him through

is the speed

and the talent and the legs.

I-it's just magnificent.

But there's something that's attached to that.

There's something that really started

this whole journey for him.

That he could believe in himself.

And when I lose a kid like this...

it's like a great wind blew,

you're freaking the hell out of the ocean.

I think there was a point where people definitely wanted

Camacho to lose.

I sure ain't no American boy, you know.

That title they gave to me, I've seen it.

In 1989, Hector fought Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini,

going for a world championship in a third weight class.

Against the Midwestern folk hero,

Camacho's identity as a character

and then a fighter was suddenly transformed.

Certainly has been set up

as the hero versus the villain.

Camacho was personal.

We had a true dislike

and animosity towards each other

because of what he was doing, how he lived.

You say, this guy's crazy as cat shit.

You know, he's just out of his mind.

So I wanted to beat his ass.

I really wanted to give him a beating he deserved.

This feud has built up.

And this is just the way

Hector Camacho wants to fight.

He wants to keep moving, keep on the run.

So elusive is "Macho" Camacho.

He's bending underneath those punches.

It appears as though Camacho is just trying

to last through these rounds.

And this crowd does not like the holding-on tactics

that Hector Camacho is using.

You know, all he did was run, that whole fight.

He didn't do nothing.

He's holding on.

He's trying to make it through this round.

I thought I won the fight.

I certainly thought I dictated the fight.

I thought I controlled the fight.

115 to 113 for the winner...

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

The pro-Mancini crowd, of course,

voicing their disapproval.

A lot of the fans went south on him.

So he had to reinvent himself...

and he did.

He met Amy.

Beautiful, beautiful Amy.

He fell in love with her.

And for me, that was the love of his life.

They both was meant for each other.

He kept it real with her.

Oh, this is it, watch.

Look at that picture.

I'm telling you, he walked around the house

butt naked all the time.

Look at the dog, poor dog.

Everybody was a fan of Macho's in our neighborhood.

Just everybody was a fan.

You know, I mean, I was watching him

when I was 12, 13 years old, fight.

You know what I mean? And we would go to the events.

On my 18th birthday,

I was standing at a payphone

on Second Avenue and 112th Street.

He pulls up, you know, and he's like,

"See that girl right there?" He told his friend,

"See that girl right there, that's the one

that's gonna have my babies."

And I was like, ew, you nasty!

I said, bye. And that's how it all started.

We got married on Valentine's Day in court.

I settled down my family,

me and Amy, it's great together.

You know. We are great for each other

and this is amazing, you know, how...

I knew that this was going to bring a change in me.

I don't need to sneak out to the clubs,

sneak out with this girl, 'cause I have my family.

When they got married, he was in a...

he was doing so good.

She was there to help him at all times, you know.

Helping him with a fight, made sure that he trained.

Amy ran the camp.

Amy did not only take care of Camacho,

she took care of all of us.

She was everything that we lived and we did.

She was there for all of us.

You know, like, she was real strong with Mach,

and she was good for him.

I feel so in control,

you know, in control of a life,

a world, you know, my world!

As long as I stay in that little world,

ain't nothing gonna go wrong.

- What time is it? - - Macho time!

- What time is it? - -Macho time!

By 1990, the still undefeated Hector Camacho

had firmly taken on a new evolution

in his identity, boxing superstar villain.

He still had his fans for sure

but also thousands who would buy tickets

hoping to see him finally get knocked out.

Which made Vinny Pazienza,

the beloved blue collar slugger from New England,

the perfect opponent.

We did a tour. The "Put Up or Shut Up" tour.

He was a little wilder than I was.

Macho time!

Traveling around with Hector Camacho.

You bring sleeping pills, you bring ear plugs,

and in some cases you go to the extremes

and you bring razorblades.

In case he gets real hot and heavy,

you go back to the room and you end it all.

There was a lot of hype. Him and Pazienza

were going back and forth.

If this is his hometown

if he's fighting here, let him hype it up.

Why should I be here?

You know, that was just where his marketability...

And he was very charismatic and so was Vinny Pazienza.

And he goes on and on, and he's a schizophrenic little dude.

I mean, he's a wannabe, he's a "Macho" Camacho wannabe.

He's, uh, in a world all his own.

He's a legend in his own mind.

The fight was secondary.

The pre-fight buildup was...

They used language and they insulted each other

in ways in our politically correct world today,

you could never get away with.

You know? But anyway...

- Hector, you leave... - I'm telling

He got so amped for me,

he even said to me before the fight,

"I got ready for you, Vinny."

That's it. Then it was on from there.

And the excitement

starting to build at ringside.

Donald Trump looking on.

And it's Pazienza working himself into a frenzy.

And here he comes in full headdress.

Hector Camacho!

Likes to paint himself as the villain.

Likes to provoke people.

Many people pay money to see

that someone will shut the mouth of "Macho" Camacho.

Camacho told me,

"I think this is one of my easier fights,"

but I always kept thinking about that Rosario fight.

You know, is he gonna have it in his mindset

to just be defensive?

Important fight for, for Camacho.

He needs to regain support of the people.

I don't know if he's got that in him anymore.

He seems conceited. We'll see.

I thought I was gonna wreck him.

I thought I was gonna go right through him.

Pazienza charging in.

I was trying to rough him up,

but he was much stronger...

and faster.

Good quickness by Camacho.

Than I even believed.

It's like, "Oh boy, this is gonna be a long night."

And he makes Pazienza pay for missing.

Surprising that Camacho is willing

to mix it up with Pazienza.

He stood and fought. There was no dancing.

He pretty much stayed in the pocket.

He fought Pazienza on Pazienza's terms.

And he outfought him.

When he was at his best, man,

a thing of beauty.

He was a thing of beauty.

That was a fight.

Camacho with this performance

will regain a lot of the respect

of the boxing crowd.

They called it "Put Up or Shut Up,"

and I think both fighters have put up pretty well.

This is a heck of a fight.

Really impressive.

And that's it.

The winner and still champion,

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

And indeed tonight, it was Macho time.

Yo.

Macho time.

Man, we had a riot in that plane, man.

We had a fucking riot, man.

He got so amped to fight me,

he got so jacked up,

he knew it was going to be a rumble.

Thank you. - Macho Man.

So, he didn't do no drugs before the fight.

He got in every night early.

When that happens to guys that are a little wild

and over the edge and, you know, like to party,

they're never the same after.

They're never the same 'cause they can never come back

and do what they did.

-Do your thing, too. We wanna get you...

He went crazy with the drugs.

Oh my God, like right after.

And he was never the same.

Don't move back. I ain't scaring you.

But yeah, we'll have some fun. We'll have some fun.

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

Undefeated 38 and 0.

On February 23rd, 1991,

Hector Camacho finally lost a fight,

but not without controversy.

And then Camacho,

well, Camacho just starts fighting.

Against Greg Haugen, Camacho lost a point

for throwing a punch between rounds.

And new champion, Greg...

But just three months later,

he'd avenge the defeat

and reclaim his WBO title.

Will it be a bitter end

or will it be a glorious end?

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

Macho calls me up one time,

I got this beautiful brand new Jaguar.

He goes, "I need you to get on a plane.

I want you to drive me home to Florida."

"We're not gonna stop, Macho, right?"

He's goes, "No, I promise you I'm going to behave."

I said, "Okay."

We get in this car, we're driving.

We're heading close to Texas.

I said, "Let's pull over for the night."

He goes, "No, you just need to

close your eyes for a little bit.

I'll keep driving."

And I'm like, "Macho."

He goes, "I'm okay. I won't go speed."

I said, "Okay," and I fall asleep.

I don't know how long I was... closed my eyes,

but it wasn't long.

He taps me on my shoulder, he goes,

"Hey, I need money for the toll."

And I'm like, "The toll?"

And I opened my eyes...

and I see the border.

We're in the line to the border into Mexico.

I'm like, "What are you doing?"

The patrol looks, and they've waved for us

to go into the security check.

And I'm like, "It's okay, Macho. No problem.

I'll take care of this. Let me talk."

He goes, "Yeah, but that's not the problem.

"I got a little present in the trunk.

I got a, I got a kilo in the trunk."

And I said, "Okay, Macho, put the top down."

It was a convertible Jag.

"And I need you to do Macho time

right now, right here."

He puts the top down, he jumps up out of this car,

he jumps onto the hood of this $90,000 Jag,

and he stands up and he's screaming

"Where's Chavez."

Everybody went crazy.

The border patrol comes, everybody started, "Camacho."

The border patrol guy passes me with a dog.

The dog goes crazy.

The dog starts barking and scratching.

I look in the rear view mirror,

and the border patrol takes the dog

and hits him, like that, he goes, "Shut up.

That's Camacho."

I saw the dog's face. The dog looked like...

And they opened the border and they make us make a U-turn.

We turn around, we get out of the border

and he is white as a ghost.

And I look at him, he goes, "Don't say nothing to me

because I just changed my life."

He goes, "Pull over right now."

I pull over, he opens the trunk,

he takes out a tire iron

and he digs a hole in the side of the highway

and he buries this thing.

He goes, "That's it. It's over for me.

That changed my life."

I'm like, "Good, 'cause you know what? I'm tired.

"Let's go stop at a hotel because you just,

you just messed up our schedule."

He goes, "Yeah, you're right."

So we go. We go in a hotel, we check in,

I go to sleep.

I must've woken up two or three hours later.

I wake up, and he's nowhere about. He's gone.

I'm like, "Did he just leave

and put me through all this shit?"

When all of a sudden, the door opens up

and he's covered in dirt.

I'm like, "Dude, what are you doing?"

He goes, "Do you remember where I parked and pulled

and buried that shit?"

He spent the whole night just digging holes,

trying to find his lost treasure.

I winded up dropping him off two days later.

I said, "Amy, here he is.

I don't want to talk to him for a year."

In 1992, now 30 years old,

Camacho prepared for the pinnacle of his career.

A match-up with the legendary Mexican icon

Julio Cesar Chavez.

Chavez's record was an incredible 81 and O.

Macho time.

Getting ready for the Chavez fight.

We stayed in Ohio

uh, in Don King's training camp.

That was the biggest fight, and it just so happens

I was actually carrying my second child

during that training.

As I was driving to the hospital,

he was running on the side of the van like this.

Macho time! Macho time.

So, the fighters all showed up

at the hospital when I had the baby.

But it was, it just brought so much light, life, love

and everything into our world at that particular moment.

It's like we were so close knit at that time,

like nothing could break us.

You can, you can see he is anxious to fight.

It was just really a big and special moment.

Everybody was just waiting for this fight.

Are you surprised at how,

how much hype has gone on about this fight?

It sold out in two weeks.

19,000 seats in two weeks.

The greatest thing any promoter can ever say

is that, "The sign says sold out! Sold out."

Macho Man, one of boxing's most charismatic,

colorful, and fun-loving characters.

I just hope he doesn't catch cold.

Fight fans, here we go!

This is it, the bout you've all been waiting for!

So, the long-awaited showdown.

Chavez and Camacho.

There's the opening bell.

And here we go.

Obviously, a pro-Chavez crowd.

They want him to give Camacho a beating.

Winning the fight isn't enough.

It's gonna take an awful lot of heart

to take the kind of pounding

that Chavez can give you.

Chavez represented all the nightmares

he was trying to avoid

in the Rosario fight after he got hurt.

A guy who comes forward, a guy who could punch,

a guy who's resilient,

a guy who on this particular night

was relentless.

Camacho looks like a guy

that's standing under a cliff

waiting for it to fall

because he's getting pummeled right now.

What a workman is Chavez. Oh!

And it's like, somebody said,

"Now, you can't have your legs.

"Now, you're gonna have to take the punishment

that people wanted to see you take that night."

It's survival time, Bobby.

It's not fight time.

He is in survival mode.

And it was almost like he said,

"I'm gonna take that punishment.

"I'm gonna make you all happy.

"Gonna make all you freaking guys happy

"that hate me because I was too fast,

"I was too slick.

"And you know what?

"I'm gonna freaking give you what you want.

"I'm gonna take the punishment that you think I deserve,

that I should have took."

And he took punishment.

Oh, he's really getting hurt now.

-Punch your way out! Punch your way out!

He is getting hurt.

Hector -He proved to me he's the macho man.

He took a pounding.

He took a pounding, he stood there fighting.

Two words. All Chavez.

Camacho is just taking a beating.

He had guts.

And then he lost.

And then it just, it just messed up his mind.

Macho time! Macho time!

With the Chavez fight, that's probably where

I got to see the main plot line

of what really was going on with the, with the drugs.

Macho's addiction was so bad

that he would continue to go back to Don King.

And Don King would, you know, give

what he would call an advance,

and Macho was always looking for advances.

Come on, put your hands in the air!

Put your hands in the air!

Camacho lived his life on the edge.

You just have to believe that lifestyle

and the abuse that... what it causes,

it's got to diminish any athlete.

He was involved in drugs.

Is he... is he ready? Is he in shape?

There's always that cloud above hanging over him.

- Hey, what time is it? - Macho time.

- -Hey, man, you late. - Yeah, I know.

You could have everything in the world

and still have nothing.

And money does not make you happy,

it only buys you time to realize you're not happy.

And when a demon lives inside you,

he doesn't leave.

Hey, the Mach, the Mach.

Smoothie, baby.

Look like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

Yes, I want you to do it, baby. Let them know what's happening.

Back to the same crowd.

Crowd come back, this mess everything,

everything that Amy built to change him, just to go back.

Macho did what he wanted,

how he wanted, and when he wanted.

I was actually his enabler for a very long time.

What I thought was good and helping him and protecting him

was actually helping him do

what he was doing and get away with it.

-Hector, who is this? Tell me who is this?

My son and my wife.

Who's this?

That's Justin. That's my son.

And I would tell him, "If you're gonna do that,

don't do it around the kids. Make sure you come home sober."

I didn't know any better.

Once I grew up, I realized

this, this, it just wasn't for me

to be in that environment like that, you know.

I can't have these kids around this craziness.

And she fought.

She had done everything, even left him.

Went back with him. Helped him go to a rehab.

-I put him in a rehab. We then had a wedding.

I did it just to help him graduate.

I stood by his side and I had his back,

but I knew Macho was never going

to stop doing what he was doing

because he blatantly said,

"I like it. I love it.

"You met me like this,

and I'm going to stay like this."

He was running away from love.

He was running away from family.

He was always running away

because everything for him was the streets.

He didn't want to give it up.

After the Chavez fight,

Macho's name kept getting him big match-ups.

The outfits were the same, but the storyline had changed.

He was just another boxer trying to hang on to stardom.

Camacho did what fighters do, continued to fight.

Middleweight champion of the world,

Hector "Macho" Camacho!

He just refuses to let go.

I'm anxious to fight again.

I'm anxious to look good.

Sleeping already, you know, eating right, training.

Shadow box, jump rope, hit the bag,

talk shit, and that's how you do it.

Macho was 34 years old,

and Sugar Ray Leonard was 40,

coming out of another retirement

when they matched up in 1997 in Atlantic City.

Sugar Ray Leonard.

He was fighting against Sugar Ray Leonard.

He had a great deal of respect for Leonard.

Even we was all like, "Oh my God,

you know, what's going to happen here?"

Like, "Why did you take this fight? That's...

You know, you idolize him a little bit."

Camacho was the villain in that fight.

He was definitely, you know, the bad guy,

but he was supremely confident.

Well, you know he'd try his darnedest

to upstage Sugar Ray Leonard.

With Hector, we both naturally were past our prime,

but I just felt that I was a bigger man.

And I was. Smarter, stronger, and all those kind of things.

Hector Camacho feels that Sugar Ray Leonard

should not consider him a safe opponent

for his first fight back.

Then the first time he threw a punch,

he threw, pow!

And I said, "Wow, that hurt."

And that gives Camacho

loads of confidence.

And that was his redemption,

to prove he was tough. To show that.

And I tried, I tried the best that I could

to just go the distance.

Camacho has looked as good

as I've seen him look in a long, long time.

Oh, good shot there by... Leonard is down!

Camacho beating Leonard

is downplayed by people

because obviously, Ray was at the end.

Literally at the end, his last fight.

Sugar Ray Leonard having difficulties

getting to his feet.

But beating Ray Leonard,

the way Camacho beat him, was impressive.

-Camacho landing. Cortez should stop it now.

It's time. There it is. And it's all over.

There are those who are gonna say,

"Hey, he was out for six years,

you should have knocked him out."

What do you say about that?

There he is.

Great champion. Two real gentlemen.

I remember him coming over to me,

hugging me and it was almost like

he was saying, "I'm sorry." I think he did say I'm sorry.

I said, "Well, you didn't show it."

I cried like a baby that night.

I knew at that moment that it was over.

It was ironic that, that the bad boy...

beat the golden boy.

I think God's a boxing fan.

And I think God said, "I'm gonna give you this one.

"You earned the right to have this night

before you go off to wherever you're going off to."

The thing with fighters...

is that we reach the top

and then when our career comes to an end,

we search for that. "And the new cha..."

There's nothing greater...

There's no better words to hear.

I ca... I can't even emphasize enough

what it means to us.

You beat the odds.

And when we don't have that any longer,

we go for something else that's going to try

to duplicate it

with the alcohol or drugs, whatever the case may be.

I've been around Hector Camacho

when he was doing this, doing that,

because I was doing the same thing.

I mean, I was no different than he was,

but I was able to pull back and just stop.

Macho always believed that his career

was going to continue,

and he got caught in that tide and that rift.

So, his only companion at that time was cocaine.

Let me replace a fight with cocaine.

Let me hang out with cocaine.

Cocaine is there for me,

it's not going to disappoint me.

I don't have to call cocaine 20,000 times

and listen to a lie and the contract's on the way.

I've got a fight, I'm working on it.

And it was the only thing that was consistent.

It never let him down.

Macho lived in despair for many, many years,

uh, because of his addiction.

He says his wife showed up Friday,

and she began hitting on him and throwing cups.

He says he knew better than to fight back in any way.

So, I grabbed her, you know,

to try to calm her down a little.

Somebody saw that, reported it.

When sheriff's deputies found out she was

two and a half months pregnant, they charged Camacho

with aggravated assault on a pregnant woman, a felony.

My wife, we love each other. We are happy with each other.

We happy. We love each other.

I didn't want to continue that lifestyle.

Like, always picking up the pieces, cleaning up, lying.

So, I filed for the divorce. He fought me to the very end.

He's like, "Don't do this. You don't have to divorce me.

"You know, like, I'll... I'll leave you alone

until you ready for me again."

And I said, "No, Macho, we have to get divorced

because you don't leave me alone."

In order to get him to calm down, I go,

"Listen, how's about when you're 50,

"we'll just... we'll meet up again,

"we'll talk and we see where we at.

Maybe then we could raise the grandkids."

I went like that to him. He goes, "All right.

I'll see you when you're 50, right?"

And I said, "Yes. See you when we 50."

Like, I could accept all his flaws and all his mistakes

and all that because I knew deep down inside

he was this great, awesome person.

He just had issues, you know.

He had, he had an illness.

2010, when I saw him,

he was really sad because there was no spark to him.

We hugged and we talked.

He had a chance to do Dancing with the Stars.

They had offered him to do Dancing with the Stars,

the Spanish version, Mira Quien Baila.

And I says, "Why don't you do that?"

And he goes,

I said, "No. We're going to do this."

He was doing nothing but eating,

hanging out with the wrong people.

So, he was really, really fat.

He had a belly, like if he was gonna be having children.

From there on, we started again

trying to make him look good.

So, that started the spark again in him.

The ratings were up all the time.

Love is in the air.

Because the people love him.

Macho presenta los Macho News.

Me llama Macho for President.

And he was the first one to get eliminated

in the competition, but they had to bring him back...

At that time, I knew a promoter

who said he could put together

a Roy Jones Jr. fight for him and Roy.

They were both at the end of their career,

but Africa was willing to pay them

$7 million apiece

to go do this in Tanzania.

Come on, champ.

And we took him from,

I'm telling you, overweight, pot belly,

couldn't even walk up this flight of stairs,

and we started the next day with him.

We started this rebuilding.

And he felt that he could do this.

Midway into this, he comes in

and he goes, "I got to talk to you."

And I go, "What's going on, champ?"

He goes, "I can't do this fight."

He goes, "I appreciate what you guys are doing,

"but I just want to get high.

I don't want to do this."

I said, "You know, you're the greatest champion

to ever step in the ring." He goes, "You know what?

I am a champion, but I'm a junkie first."

He was broken.

When I looked into his eyes,

I realized there was nothing left.

And he had nowhere to go.

And he made the awful decision to go back to Amy's.

He was on probation, living in Tampa,

and he kept calling me all day.

And something seemed strange.

And I could hear in his voice

he wasn't sober.

I was at work. I called the house,

and the boys didn't answer

'cause I keep checking on them.

And so, I said, "Let me go home."

I drove home. I looked inside.

I'm like, "Oh my God." Just...

The office was turned upside down.

And I talked to, to the little one, Tyler,

and he's like, "Mom,"

and he's telling me what happened.

He's like, "Dad came in,

"and he's mad, and he pushed me.

And when he pushed me..."

Like, I guess he grabbed him and pushed him,

but he hit the bed.

He didn't deliberately hurt him.

So, when the police came

because, you know, everybody called the police,

the neighbors called the police,

they asked if we wanted to press charges.

I said, "No, it's okay. Don't worry about it.

We'll be fine."

But the state picked up the case,

and they filed against him.

That really, like, really teared them up apart.

He cried and...

that was the first time, actually,

from a long time that we seen him break down like that,

you know.

He was hurting.

This was already his second, third felony.

He was looking at a lot of time in prison.

And that's how he found himself in Puerto Rico.

He was running from that.

Everything's an adventure in my life.

When I go to sleep, when I get up,

I live an adventurous life, you know.

There's no minute in my life that I'm not adventurous.

I'm not stopping and looking back.

It's just a great thrill, you know, to be living.

Back in Bayamon, Hector started hanging out

with a new girlfriend and new friends.

It was 2012, and he was now 50 years old.

So I went to Puerto Rico.

He got some friend. They was no good.

It was Pasteles,

that's the one who put my son like that.

Used to drive him a taxi.

Do things that he not supposed to do.

We used to almost every night

jump in... in a taxi, go baile.

Pasteles is a taxi driver in Bayamon

who became friendly with Camacho over the years.

This is crazy.

People work for him, Macho.

I told him.

I'm telling my father, "Pops,

"things are bad out here.

"Things are bad.

"You know, our generation, they young kids in the street,

be careful out there." "I'm the Macho Man."

"I understand, but it's crazy and be careful."

Nothing to do.

Lonely. He's lonely. Just empty.

He said, "Mommy, I got a new girlfriend."

I said, "Yeah? Let me see who."

When I see her, mm-mm.

I know they told me how she was.

Macho was always one who would go

to a lot of strip clubs.

Cynthia was one of the girls that he had linked with.

She was part of that entourage

with the strippers and that.

That's where he probably even met Jamil.

He ran an escort service.

Cynthia was a part of the escort services.

Somehow, Camacho got connected with Cynthia

ergo connected with Jamil.

He had, he had a record, drugs and firearms.

Not really.

- No? - No.

The last two years alive,

almost every day me and him.

But when Jamil come around, everything changed.

He just started spiraling out of control.

There was no talking to him.

He looked different. He behaved different.

You know, we found out about this female,

um, who she was, what she represent.

The fast life, drugs, alcohol, sex, jail,

and nothing good comes from the fast life at all.

You go just as you come.

He was no longer...

the man that I knew.

And we were like, "Get out of Puerto Rico, Macho.

"Let's go hang out in the neighborhood.

"My mother's going to cook.

Come on, man, let's go back to what we had."

We had more when we had nothing.

My mother was telling him

to get out of Puerto Rico.

And he goes, "You know what?

"I want to get out of here, man.

I really do."

But you can't force someone to fight.

There was no stopping him.

Everybody told me,

you know you can leave Macho alone.

I should not go, leave Macho alone.

I never leave my son alone, look what happened.

We were always lucky.

We walked away from a lot of things.

We just kept playing Russian roulette

to the end,

but the problem is he kept adding

another bullet to the chamber.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 2012,

Camacho was home with Cynthia, his new girlfriend,

when his friend Jamil came over for a visit.

He was chilling with the girl, looking at TV.

This guy came and told them all, come on, let's take a ride,

take a ride with me somewhere, take a ride with me somewhere.

It was dark. I want to say it was seven-ish.

The initial report was it was a car parked

at a strip mall in Bayamon.

He was in the car looking at his phone.

Shots are fired...

and then a guy is seen running, getting into a car,

and leaving in the direction towards Catano.

One guy is found dead behind the car,

and the other one is inside in the passenger seat wounded.

In that case, it was Camacho.

Hector called me and tell me, "Titi

you standing?" And I said, "What happened?"

"Titi, put the TV on." "Why?"

"Put the TV on, they just killed my father."

I dropped the phone...

and that's it.

The family of the boxing great

Hector "Macho" Camacho

is with him by his side tonight

in a Puerto Rico hospital

the day after doctors there declared him brain dead.

Hector "Macho" Camacho

passed away this morning at a hospital in Puerto Rico

after his family made the decision

to remove him from life support.

Camacho was 50 years old.

It's like they rip something off, like rip.

Yeah.

We stayed three days in Puerto Rico.

It was line to line.

You know, like, he was so loved.

And we brought him over here in New York for his people.

We share him.

I got a call that, uh, Hector had died

and that his mom wanted me to do his funeral.

And it really was quite something.

Thousands of people filled the streets

of Spanish Harlem to mourn his death

and celebrate his life.

Macho! Macho!

You could see, like, the panorama

of his life out there.

What time is it? Macho time!

Macho!

He-he's part of us, you know, he's our pride.

When you mention Camacho,

you mention Spanish Harlem, el Barrio.

To us, he was the Muhammad Ali in Puerto Rico.

And even though their bodies

lie in the Earth,

they trust that they, like you, will rise again.

But when I gave my homily at the mass,

I was criticized because they said

I never mentioned how he died.

And my response was, everyone knew how he died.

He was shot.

Why he was shot? I don't know.

What he was involved in? I don't know.

Some might make him a victim,

and some might make him a villain.

And I think that's what caused

a lot of the pain around his death.

Such a talented person coming out of East Harlem

dying the way he did.

What did happen?

And may he rest in peace.

Amen!

She haven't been the same since Macho died.

It's like, the pain is killing her.

That's all she talks about,

and to this day she talks about it.

She talks about her son.

She wants to know who killed her son,

and she don't want to do nothing until she finds out

who killed her son.

You know. And that's the mission that she's going for.

And she's not going to stay still

until she finds out who killed her son.

I wanted to walk away from it, but coming back,

feeling, seeing the place

where, you know, he got shot at...

doesn't add up right, doesn't seem right.

Gives you more questions.

It's a busy neighborhood. It's busy

on the main streets in Bayamon.

And nobody know nothing.

Or nobody seen nothing. Unbelievable.

Think about seven years ago.

My family, my grandmother, we need closure.

In the days and weeks after the shooting,

a number of theories about what happened emerged.

One was simply that Camacho was in the wrong place

at the wrong time with the wrong friend.

I was called to cover the, the shooting.

I remember that the first versions

that I heard when I arrived.

That the people that shoot were looking for his friend.

They knew he had money,

but then Macho was in the car at the time.

So they went to shoot this guy and kill him,

but they didn't realize there was another person in the car.

And when they did, they shot him. Witness.

But the streets say something else.

Your father, you know, was... wasn't too liked

towards the end of his times.

So another possibility

was that Camacho himself was the target.

Catano is a town next to Bayamon,

well-known as a criminal hub

for the drug trade in Puerto Rico.

In Catano, there was a police interception

of a car, a traffic stop.

The car would resemble the vehicle

that was seen leaving the scene of the shooting.

But at that time,

the officer that stopped them were not aware.

The car stopped, the guy comes out,

they give the ID,

and the police officer's checking the car.

And then all of a sudden, the guy takes off in the car.

So they chase him...

and then the chase ended in public housing.

They, they lost him.

There were eye witnesses

that slowly, slowly started to come through.

But none of them could ID the person.

Do you think that they were the ones?

- I believe, yeah. - Yeah?

- I believe that was the one. - Yeah?

Hell yeah.

Another possible motive

revolved around an insurance policy

collected by Jamil's widow, Eida Santana.

Eida Santana put the hit

on him to collect the insurance.

Actually, at one point, I believe that she paid

the, the late payments on the insurance policy

because it was late and they were going to cancel.

Santana was interviewed.

She gave brief statements and upon advice from counsel,

it would not go further.

And there's been all kinds of retaliation

against people that go in.

People die because they all witness.

You may have the best subjects in the world,

but the evidence is not enough,

and the prosecutors will not go.

The police doesn't have the resources

to do investigations.

They don't have the intelligence,

and they don't do the investigations properly.

The truth is it's anything but uncommon

for a murder to remain unsolved

in Puerto Rico.

Even though as a territory,

it has the second largest police force

in the United States,

second only to New York City,

just 23 percent of crimes committed on the island

ever get solved.

I ended up going to the Bayamon police

half a dozen times

during my trips to Puerto Rico.

Then I figured I'd try something different.

I got a contact at the FBI

and went to the Bureau's local headquarters in San Juan.

I'm here to see Agent Leff, Doug Leff.

What are some of the obstacles

just generally in Puerto Rico

with solving homicides?

Well, the homicide rate itself

is at a level here that's comparable

with countries in South America.

It's, it's a very high rate.

One of the biggest issues is witnesses coming forward.

I mean, there's a lot of fear. It's a small jurisdiction.

So you can imagine that a lot of people are afraid.

So a lot of it is trying to get the public

to trust that they will be protected

and that they will be safe if they bring information forward.

What would it take for the FBI

to get involved in this case?

Only as with any other case,

just a request from our state and local partner,

and we'll come forward with every resource

at our disposal.

After all the years of frustration,

in November of 2019,

Maria finally got a call to come down to Puerto Rico.

Let's go.

They call me, say,

"Maria, we'd like you to be here."

He got something over in Puerto Rico,

but they're not telling me.

He would like me to be over there

so he can explain everything to me,

but on telephone, he want to explain nothing.

I said, don't worry. I'll be there.

I'm going to the police now.

I got appointment with them.

The case Maria was finding out

had finally been transferred from the local Bayamon precinct

to police headquarters in San Juan,

where a new detective was now working with the FBI.

Uh-huh.

Si.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Si, senor.

They told me they got him.

They got him.

Oh Lord, you're so good.

Thank you, dear Lord.

Woo! I'm so happy.

Now I can sleep.

Maria may finally have closure,

but I'm not sure that anyone will ever know

all the facts surrounding Macho's death.

But New Yorkers, boxing fans around the world,

and especially the people of Spanish Harlem

will never forget the hero of these streets,

Hector "Macho" Camacho.

The great American dream, you know,

to take a kid from Spanish Harlem

and get on top of the world.

He was the first window in my life

to know that any dream is possible,

as long as you go for it.

And he went for it.

He was representing Spanish Harlem,

where he's from.

He never forgot.

There'll never be another "Macho" Camacho.

I wish I could hear his voice one last time, man.

How I wish.

Macho, looking back at your career

and where you are right now, are you satisfied?

Yes, I'm satisfied,

because I am a boxer.

I was meant to be what I'm doing.

I lived that dream every day.

You think they'll ever do a movie about you?

They better!

- What time is it? - -Macho time!

What time is it? - -Macho time!

Excuse me.

Do you know a driver named Pasteles?

He doesn't want to be recorded.

- He say he died. - He said he died?

Oh my God!

That's it.