MACHO NO MORE: CAMACHO JR. QUITS
KIRK JOHNSON OUTWORKS LARRY DONALD

PretenderPrior to his fight with Jesse James Leija, there were some serious questions about Hector Camacho Jr.'s legitimacy. Despite 32 straight victories, Camacho had yet to face a serious contender. Worse, he had been wobbled by a few of the no-hopers on his resume, had shown up for a few contests overweight and undertrained, and had heard his share of boos from a less than impressed public. In Leija, Camacho thought he had selected the perfect opponent to silence the critics: good name recognition, former champion, best days behind him, and available to be hit. But Camacho's dreams of legitimacy and respect went up in smoke when he abruptly quit midway through their scheduled 10 round bout... and was then handed a bogus decision as the cards were read in his favor.

Make no mistake: Camacho was losing his fight against the 35 year-old veteran. In the opening round, he was nearly knocked out after a decent start. Coming quickly at Leija in the fight's opening moments, Camacho threw and landed three straight left hands. Leija quickly got a feel for Camacho's handspeed and power, then began his quest to get inside. The first few Leija charges came up empty, including one attack that resulted in a clash of heads. Leija emerged with a long thin cut that traced the outer two inches of his left eyebrow. Within seconds Leija's entire eye was full of blood.

But as Camacho tried to open up on his half-blind opponent, he squared up right as Leija was hurling an overhand right. The punch tagged Camacho on the jawline and pushed his head into the path of Leija's follow-up left hook, which also landed flush. Camacho was stunned and literally retreated to the ropes on his heels. Macho Jr. grabbed the top rope to avoid going down, and soon Leija was all over him. The San Antonio brawler got in a few more solid punches before the bell mercifully saved Camacho.

Camacho began the second round considerably more tentatively. For most of the first half of the round, Camacho put all of his effort into keeping Leija at a distance. Leija would throw punches and try to get close, and Camacho would back up a step and stare. The boos started after a minute. Wanting to make a good impression on his hometown fans, Camacho picked up the pace after the catcalls, and again paid a price. While he landed a short lefts to begin his attempted rally, Leija answered with a blistering right hand that turned Camacho's head and encouraged him to begin clinching. Leija, whose eye had re-filled with blood, continued his attack. His short bursts of punches drew blood from Camacho's nose and banked another easy-to-score round in his favor.

Camacho improved in the third round, although slowly. Leija was again cast as the bull, only he caught a few firm lefts as he came at the matador. Camacho's fists must contain some power, because Leija's engagements decreased in this round. Pumping out a decent jab, Camacho now kept Leija away with his punches. Still, Camacho preferred to keep the bout at a slow-tempo, low-contact pace. Fighting flat-footed, Camacho was looking for a perfect left counter, and found it late in the round. Leija walked into the punch in the final 20 seconds of the frame, and while he initially staggered back a few steps, he had recovered before the bell ended the third.

Pink gloves?The fourth was more of the same: Camacho maintaining enough distance between the two to work a jab and occasional left cross into the mix. Still, Leija was the one putting on the pressure, and the otherwise perfunctory round ended with Leija finally getting in and initiating a good exchange. Both men landed punches in this final flurry, with Camacho's heavier and cleaner shots tipping the round in his favor.

But just as it looked like Camacho had gotten comfortable and established a rhythm, it all went straight to hell. 45 seconds into the fifth, the two men came together throwing punches, and this time it was Camacho who came out of the clinch with a cut. It was a one-inch long slice on the right eyelid, and it dripped blood into Camacho's eye in almost the exact same way that Leija's cut had four rounds earlier. But Camacho's inexperience showed as complete panic set in.

Immediately, Camacho began clutching and hugging Leija in a blatant attempt to kill time. Leija, suddenly bursting with energy, tried his best to keep throwing punches in the time between referee Steve Smoger's breaks and Camacho Jr.'s next grab. Simply put, Camacho was frozen. A few times when he could not catch Leija's arms in his own, Camacho retreated to a corner, where he would take several unanswered punches before finally lunging into a bear hug. At no point was he composed enough to answer with any blows of his own. Eventually the clock ran out, giving Camacho a chance to regroup in his corner and Leija a potential 10-8 round.

But when Camacho sat on his stool, his cut was barely attended to. While Joe Souza had completely stopped the bleeding on Leija's nasty cut using all the standard techniques, Camacho's corner ignored the cut for 30 seconds before finally squeezing it with a terrycloth towel. The bleeding stopped, anyway... but then Camacho decided that he'd had enough.

Standing up to begin the sixth, Camacho called for the ringside doctor. As the doctor looked at the cut (finding it okay to continue) and looking into Camacho's eyes with a flashlight, Camacho could be heard complaining about his vision. Instead of the typical "I'm fine, I can continue" rap that most ringside physicians hear, this doctor was getting nothing but complaints from Camacho. He wanted a way out, and he looked depressed when the doctor told Smoger that Camacho could continue and that he'd check the eye again in another round.

Smoger sent the doctor back to his seat and called for the fight to begin, but Camacho would not come out. He turned to a security guard on the ring apron and began complaining again. Soon the doctor was on the apron again listening to Camacho's whining. Camacho was claiming that his vision was blurry... but he had no problem going across the ring and yukking it up with Leija while Smoger consulted with the New York State Athletic Commission about what to do. Leija was having none of it, and smiled as he told Camacho "We all really know what's really going on."

Under the NYSAC rules, you go to the cards after half the rounds are in the books. With five of a scheduled ten complete, Camacho took his chances with the hometown judges. They did not disappoint. Boxing Chronicle scored 1, 2, and 5 for Leija and 3 and 4 for Camacho. There was really no other way to see it. We gave Leija a 10-9 fifth round, but Camacho absorbed so many unanswered blows while clinching in the fifth that a 10-8 would not have been unreasonable. 48-47 for Leija should have been the score. But the official tallies were 49-46 (twice) and 48-47 for Camacho Jr. To put it mildly: utter bullshit.

And so Hector Camacho walked away from a fight in-progress because he didn't feel like continuing... and he gets a win for doing so. Leija, who has been robbed on more than one occasion, could do little more than smile. He knew what any boxing fan watching the fight knew: Camacho chickened out. Now 33-0, the 140 lb. contender's career has taken a serious step backwards. Where does Camacho go from here? Does he return to a steady diet of tomato cans, or does he continue to search for legitimate competition? And given his non-effort this night, will fans even care? Anyone who stayed up past midnight to see this bout's ridiculous conclusion will not soon forget Camacho's cowardice.

[Editor's note: On June 26, 2001, nearly three weeks after this fight took place, the New York State Athletic commission overturned the decision. Claiming that because the bell had not yet sounded to start the sixth round, the fight was not "officially" half-over. Therefore, an accidental foul causing a stoppage results in a no-contest. Camacho loses a win, Leija a loss. In their bizarre decision, the NYSAC recognized that the bell had sounded to end the fifth round. But with five rounds fought and five to go, they still refused to rule that the fight was half-over.]

On the undercard, the scoring was just as bad... although at least the right guy won. In a WBA eliminator, rotting-on-the-vine Kirk Johnson won a spectacularly boring decision over Larry Donald, a fighter who $omehow has been able to keep his name in the $anctioning bodies' top tens despite not fighting a significant opponent in years.

Both fighters looked incredibly focused during this slow-paced jab fest. Johnson's jab rarely found Donald's head, and so Kirk focused on the body, one-twoing to Donald's midsection over and over and over in the exact same manner in every single round. All Larry Donald had to do was adjust to Johnson's one-dimensional attack... but he couldn't. Sure, one time he nailed Johnson with an uppercut after the downstairs stick one time, but that was it. For the rest of the fight, Donald meekly jabbed at Johnson. Donald looked the part, with his right hand cocked and ready, but he never threw it. NEVER.

Johnson was having such an easy time of it, that he never felt pressure to up his attack. Occasionally he would tire of hitting Donald's ribs, and attempt a one-two upstairs. Late in the fight, a few overhand rights found their target... but Johnson was never consistently able to score to the head. Still, Donald's pecking took it's toll on Johnson's eyes. Both eyes showed signs of swelling as early as the second round, but by the tenth, Kirk's right eye was slammed shut. Between rounds his corner would open it slightly with the endswell, but a few jabs later it would be closed. The swelling hampered Johnson's efforts in the tenth and twelfth rounds, the only two in which Donald won. Still, when the cards were read, Johnson could only eke out a victory with tallies of 115-113, 116-112, and 118-110 (Boxing Chronicle scored the bout 118-110).

Johnson now gets a WBA mandated shot at the winner of Holyfield-Ruiz III. Last October Johnson's career showed renewed vigor when he demolished Oleg Maskaev in three rounds. But fighting sporadically against hand-picked opposition has hurt Johnson's skills. This night he was often wide open for a counter. His hands were low from his stance, and even lower after he threw a punch. Johnson weighed in at a soft 239, not his best weight. He may have been lucky that Donald couldn't get his right hand to move all night.

And so two contenders failed to make waves in their respective divisions. Johnson's lackluster performance was at least a one-sided victory, albeit a boring one. Camacho's win was as bogus as they come. To make the big bucks, both men are going to have to improve... only time will tell if they can.

.....Chris Bushnell

BOXING CHRONICLE.COM SCORECARD:

ROUND

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

TOTAL

CAMACHO JR.

9

9

10

10

9

QUITS

LEIJA

10

10

9

9

10

ROUND

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

TOTAL

JOHNSON

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9

10

9

118

DONALD

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

10

9

10

110

© 2001 Chris Bushnell. All rights reserved.

Schedule News Current Champions WAIL! Encyclopedia Store Home