There is a night where things, perception wise, can go in your favor, but doesn’t in reality. It’s the “win the battle, lose the war” cliche that gets mentioned in all walks of life. It comes at times when athletes, especially in their early 20s, have the future right in front of them but the price of fame takes them down the wrong path regardless of success. Sometimes, it takes one event to change everything.

For the sport of boxing, the night of June 13, 1986 at Madison Square Garden is the perfect example of this.

It was an all Puerto Rican showdown that lit up New York City as Hector “Macho” Camacho faced Edwin “El Chapo” Rosario for the World Lightweight Championship. Two fighters from the streets of Puerto Rico (Camacho from Bayamon and Rosario from Toa Alta) meeting not just for Puerto Rican bragging rights, but also for lightweight supremacy. It was a highly anticipated matchup that also had potential opponent and future all-time great Julio Cesar Chavez fighting on the undercard.

With Sugar Ray Leonard “retired” and calling fights on HBO Sports (especially this one), boxing was looking for someone who brought a bit of flash, style, and the “wow” factor to the sport that was lacking at the time. Camacho’s flamboyance filled that void. Known for his flamboyance and entertainment with his ring walk attire and in-ring style, Camacho got you watching him, love him or hate him. After winning three New York Golden Gloves Championships as an amateur from 1978-1980 in New York coming out of Spanish Harlem, Camacho quickly ascended to the top of the junior lightweight and lightweight divisions with his flashy style, winning world titles in both weight classes, and going into this fight, he was coming off a near flawless performance when he shut out 90-win fighter Jose Luis Ramirez ten months before in 1985 to win the lightweight championship at a time where Camacho started to hit the pinnacle of his career.

No one will mistake Rosario for being flashy, but one thing he did have was punching power. Regardless as the most lethal puncher in the lightweight division, Rosario had one of the highest KO ratios in the history of the division going into the fight. Like Camacho, Rosario quickly rose to the top of his division after winning the Puerto Rican Golden and Junior Olympic titles as an amateur in only 30 amateur fights. He would find himself challenging Ramirez for the vacant lightweight championship in 1983. Despite a furious rally late by Ramirez, Rosario managed to escape with a unanimous decision to win the lightweight championship. After two successful title defenses, Rosario would face Ramirez again in a rematch in 1984. After a fast start by Rosario where he floored Ramirez three times and appeared in route to an easy KO win, Rosario found himself in retreat after he got caught by a wild left in the third and was pummeled till the fight was over in the fourth round, and Rosario lost his world title to Ramirez. However, after four straight wins following the Rarmirez loss, Rosario found himself in position to challenge for the same lightweight championship, this time against Camacho.

Two different fighters with two different styles, in and out of the ring, are set to clash in an even billed as “Friday the 13th: Resurrection.” Lots of unanswered questions and new issues regarding both fighters going into the fight, which the majority of the 10,600 seated at Madison Square Garden were going to cheer for either of these two fighters.

Style vs. substance. Speed vs. power. Macho vs. Chapo. Camacho vs. Rosario. The fight is now on.

In typicial Camacho fashion, he begins by utilizing the ring and keeping his distance from the hard hitting Rosario, landing punches in combination as Rosario is trying to cut the ring off. Well-timed jabs and flurries by Camacho throughout the first three rounds as he took command of the fight early on with his speed and ring generalship.

As rounds 3 and 4 were moving on, however, Rosario started to find success by closing the distance between him and Camacho, finding home for the left hook as he begins to establish himself, even trying a few body shots to try and slow down Camacho. As round 4 came to an end, a straight right hand by Rosario opens a cut over the left eye of Camacho. Now, all of a sudden, we have a fight and the drama is about to really begin, and things were about to dramatically changed quicky.

The drama came early in round 5, as Camacho was trying to stand toe-to-toe with Rosario, a perfectly placed left hook by Rosario on the chin of Camacho, and Camacho is now hurt and staggering all around the ring. Trying to go for the finish, two straight right hands by Rosario pin Camacho along the ropes, and Rosario now pounding to Camacho’s ribs as Camacho is now fighting in survival mode, with blood coming out of both his left eye and his nose. A left-right combination by Rosario rocked Camacho again, two more body body punches by Rosario, and Camacho somehow survived the most brutal round he has ever encountered in his career at that point.

The left hook that hurt Camacho changed his strategy entirely for the rest of the fight.

From that point forward, Camacho would stay away from Rosario’s power and land flurries rather sporadically as he felt Rosario’s power. Now, instead of engaging with Rosario as he came in, Camacho now resorts to clinching and turning to avoid getting hit. It turned out to be what got him through rounds 6-10 and the first half of round 11.

With less than a minute left in round 11, a perfectly placed left hook by Rosario through the guard wobbled Camacho. As Rosario was going forward, Camacho would again resort to survival tactics by clinching every chance he could to avoid being hit with another one of Rosario’s big punches, and again Camacho found a way to survive.

Camacho, still feeling the effects of Rosario’s power from the previous round, came out in the final round just looking to avoid getting hit. Rosario, needing a knockout to win, was trying his best to get the KO, but it wasn’t to be. A tired and wobbly Camacho again survives the 12 round distance, with his face cut and beaten up.

So the all-Puerto Rican super fight was complete. It was time for the decision to be announced. It was Camacho who was awarded a split decision win in front of the all Puerto-Rican crowd. A crowd that booed the decision as many thought Rosario should have gotten the decision. The fight, despite the result, didn’t sit well with Camacho.

He would ask those around him how he looked after the fight and didn’t understand how and why Rosario was able to get to him the way he did. Known as a slick fighter who used a “hit and not get hit” approach to every fight, it was the first time in his career Camacho was in a fight where he got hit, and hit constantly throughout the fight. The same way he used to do to fighters prior to the night he faced Rosario.

A night, and a punch, can change a fighter’s mindset and swagger for the rest of his career. The left hook, in round 5, that Rosario hurt Camacho with became the perfect case of this as his career continued. Camacho became more of a “survivor” throughout the remainder of his career after the fight, utilizing his speed to stay away from opponents anytime they got close to him. From that point forward, Camacho would play the role of “boxing villain” in a way to sell his fights, knowing the public were going to watch hoping he’d lose. In a career that was wildly inconsistent from the Rosario fight until a beatdown loss to Chavez in 1992, Camacho only fought 11 times, going 10-1 (with a loss to Greg Haugen in 1991), only generating 2 wins by KO during that period while getting involved with alcohol and drugs. Those would point to the Rosario fight and the lengthy periods of inactivity as the reasons for it. After the loss to Chavez in 1992, Camacho would continue to fight on, using his name to get whatever fight he could at that point, but the Camacho that showed brilliance before 1986 was gone forever. He would continue on with his career throughout 2012 before he was tragically killed in a shooting in Puerto Rico at age 50.

Like Camacho, Rosario himself was as wildly inconsistent with his career. He did manage to win multiple world titles in two weight divisions, but was a fighter who was good enough to win championships, but didn’t go the extra mile to successfully defend those titles as a champion would. A beatdown loss in 1987 to Chavez changed him forever as he, like Camacho, got addicted to substance abuse and fought very sporadically. He did manage to win two world championships after the Chavez loss, but his end as a championship level fighter came in 1992 when he was obliterated in one round by an unknown Japanese challenger Akinobu Hiranaka. He would go on to continue fighting after that loss, getting non-descript wins over irrelevant opposition before he was found dead in his bed at his parents house at age 34 of an aneurysm, mainly caused by the substance abuse he went through himself.

The ups and downs of these two standout Puerto Rican fighters continue to be studied four decades later as many still wonder how everything could go so far south for both fighters the way they did after their fight on June 13, 1986. Moreso for “Macho” Camacho, given he had all-time great potential going into fight. He had it all right in front of him, and was doing so well against a battle-tested opponent in Rosario.

Then the left hook in round 5 happened. The left hook that changed everything for Camacho forever.

The left hook took the “Macho” out of Hector “Macho” Camacho, and that was it.

Photo Credit; Fox News, Facebook, YouTube, EnciclopediaPR

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