Hector Was Certainly Macho

I haven’t been nearly as active on this site as I should be, and with good reason (which I’ll explain at a later date). However, recently I’ve been thinking about boxing history and “where we came from” with regard to the current crop of “up and coming” talent, perhaps brought on by the 70^th birthday of Muhammad Ali, and something that was included in Bill Simmons’ “All Playoff Football Mailbag” on Friday afternoon brought me out of my self-induced hibernation. Let’s grab a quick quote from the former Boston Sports Guy shall we?

Q: A few buddies and I were playing poker and talking football when one of the guys referred to Matt Ryan by his nickname, “Matty Ice.” Instinctively, me and another guy starting laughing, to the surprise of the rest of the table. After his 3 career playoff performances, no one should be calling him “Matty Ice.” Has there been anyone else in sports that once had a great nickname only to make a mockery of it?
— Brian Grayon, Albuquerque

SG: I’m splitting my vote between the XFL’s “He Hate Me” guy and two boxers — James “Quick” Tillis (he wasn’t quick) and Hector “Macho” Camacho (he wasn’t macho). Although you could talk me into Chauncey Billups still being called “Mr. Big Shot” a good four years after he stopped being Mr. Big Shot. You could say he’s firmly entrenched in the Donovan McNabb/2010 Redskins stage of his career. After Chauncey made the game-winner in Wednesday’s Mavs-Clips game, he acted totally surprised and overly excited, as if he were saying, “Whoa! It went in! I’m still Mr. Big Shot!” Might be a good idea to retire that name, Chauncey.</blockquote>

Wait what? Did Bill Simmons seriously just write that “Macho” Camacho was a mockery of a nickname because “he wasn’t macho?” This ladies and gentlemen is precisely why people who don’t know anything, shouldn’t talk like they know anything.

Let’s go to the tape shall we?

Hector “No Macho” Camacho made his professional boxing debut on September 12, 1980, and his last bout came on May 14, 2010 – and in between that time Camacho fought 88 times and compiled a record of 79-6-3 with 38 knockouts. In 88 professional fights, “No Macho” Camacho was knocked out a grand total of zero times.

Who did Camacho fight during his extensive professional career? Vinny Pazienza, Ray Mancini, Oscar De La Hoya, Rafael Limon, Roberto Duran (twice), Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez, Freddie Roach and Edwin Rosario to name a few – most of those guys were accomplished champions, none of them were pushovers, and all of them came into the ring for a fight (I might be stretching with Oscar there). Oh and in case you aren’t impressed with professional success, Camacho also won 3 New York Golden Gloves championships and compiled an amateur record of 96-4. If you’re keeping track at home, that guy you thought was not macho, he has a lifetime (or at least record keeping lifetime) record of 175-10-3, but yeah, lets talk about how he didn’t deserve his nickname.

You want proof of how “Macho” he really was – check out his title fight at Madison Square Garden with Edwin Rosario…go ahead, watch it. I just checked it out to make sure I wasn’t a dope for including it here, it’s a pretty macho performance if you ask me. Still not convinced, check out the robbery he suffered against Greg Haugen and tell me if you’ve ever seen someone lose a point for something so ridiculous as not touching gloves to start the final round.

Admittedly it wasn’t all a bed of roses for Camacho, and as a Puerto Rican coming up at the same time as Julio Cesar Chavez, much of the limelight was reserved for someone else. But to suggest that Camacho was somehow undeserving of his nickname is an insult to Camacho, to boxing fans, and to Bill Simmons himself for being so blind to even write it. Aren’t there any editors at Grantland? (Oh there are…and they are Bill Simmons, my bad).

Bill Simmons is who he is. He knows basketball, and he is forced to write about everything else. He makes 80’s movie references and talks about the Real World and hopes everything in between is ignored, but to suggest that “Macho” Camacho and “He Hate Me” even operate on the same plane of existence is laughable.

Hector Camacho earned the nickname “Macho” and to suggest otherwise simply shows ignorance on behalf of the writer. Perhaps “sports writer” is the most undeserved moniker around, and it’s being used by Bill Simmons.