Boxing is about to lose one of its best and most flamboyant fighters.
Hector Camacho, who turned 50 on Thanksgiving, is expected to be taken off life support within the next day or two after being shot in Puerto Rico.
Camacho won titles in five weight classes ranging from junior-lightweight to middleweight while fashioning a 79-6-3 record during a 28-year pro career. Nicknamed "Macho," he would often wear colorful outfits, talk trash and often declare before entering the the ring that it was "Macho Time."
He fought more times in Atlantic City than anywhere else, registering a 12-0 record on the boardwalk.
Atlantic City was the scene of some of his biggest triumphs.
Camacho earned the WBO junior-welterweight title with a 12-round, unanimous decision over Vinny Pazienza at Boardwalk Hall on Feb. 3, 1990. Six years later, he won the IBC middleweight crown with another decision over legendary Roberto Duran at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort on June 22, 1996.
His final fight in Atlantic City was on March 1, 1997, when he halted Sugar Ray Leonard's comeback attempt with a fifth-round TKO at Boardwalk Hall.
Camacho was supposed to fight there one more time on May 9, 2009 against Yory Boy Campas, but the bout was moved to Orlando, Fla. after New Jersey Athletic Control Board commissioner Aaron Davis refused to sanction it.
Davis and Control Board deputy commissioner Sylvester Cuyler watched Camacho spar at the Atlantic City PAL and determined he was not fit to fight at age 46.
Camacho and Campas wound up fighting to an eight-round draw.
