Chavez (left) knocked out Camacho (right) in 12 rounds. Photo from The Ring archive
Sometimes a boxer’s record doesn’t tell the whole story. But then again, he sometimes does.
Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector Camacho combined for an astonishing 121-1 record, with Camacho owning the only loss in one of his 41 fights to that day and Chavez posting a flawless 81-0 as they climbed the ropes for the most iconic of all fights in the legendary Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry.
Excitement and anticipation were at an all time high for these two boxing-mad rival nations. Camacho, the flamboyant bilingual character with a flair for exuberant costumes and garrulous tirades, versus Chavez, the cancer-seriously cold-eyed assassin who established the body hook as Mexico’s national treasure, only to be compared to the tequila, tacos and Mayan pyramids.
The mutual threats and taunts died down as the bell rang and one of boxing’s greatest displays of footwork began. Chavez, always the bully, and Camacho, a textbook southpaw who uses perpetual motion to stay out of his enemy’s most powerful hands, gave a boxing clinic for eternity during the early rounds. But then Chavez moved the lever at full speed, and it was over.
With a sense of urgency spurred on by his intense national pride, Chavez stomped on Camacho, reducing his face to a bloody pulp and slowly working his usual piecemeal demolition job until Camacho had to confine himself to survive the night.
The shutout was demonstrated by the scorecards of 119-110, 120-107 and 117-110, as the bad blood between the two men gave way to a mutual respect that would last a lifetime, and a fight that would live on in everyone’s memory. . Mexican and Puerto Rican fan, forever.
