Is there any truth in the story that, in their 1986 match-up, Edwin Rosario hit Hector Camacho with such a hard (single) punch that Hector was never quite the same afterwards. Camacho wasn't knocked out or even knocked down (a body shot I think), and went on to win by split-decision, but I remember hearing that Camacho was never the same after that shot; I believe it was some TV commentator/boxing historian that said it, going on to state that Hector dramatically changed his style after that fight, and became terribly gun shy. Any truth in this? Did I just imagine it? :think :think :think
No, you're not imagining it. I recall hearing that statement also. I don't believe the theory, but I did hear it. I think Camacho was always on his bicycle when he fought. I just think that the amount of time he spent in front of an opponent was dictated by the quality of the opponent. I thought Rosario won that fight, but I was rooting for Rosario and thought it was a close fight.
I never actually seen the fight myself, but I thought it was strange that one punch could have such a devastating psychological effect on a fighter, especially considering it was not a KD/KO punch.
...............It's true, yes. Camacho never had quite the same zeal and seemed less willing to take chances after that. Take the Boza fight as an example; let's compare him to Limon, whom Camacho won the 130-pound title from. Both were southpaws, both were good punchers, but both were slow and both had seen better days. Camacho blew out Limon, and seemed content to run like a deer and clinch against Boza, even though he'd knocked him down early. He could very easily have finished him. Easily.
Who knows how painful Rosario's shots were? He was one of the hardest P4P puncher ever. For a man who didn't truly want to fight in the first place maybe that pain of your damned ribs bending and nearly breaking along with other punishment left mental scars on him long after the real pain subsided.
Look what Rosario did to the usually steel chinned Livingstone Bramble? Knocked him out in two rounds. When you hear about how great Camacho was, Check out the Limon fight. He had all the tools, speed, power, aggressiveness. Cockyness, the fans loved it. Then check him out against Haugen or Chavez. Night & Day. Hard to explain it.
The Rosario fight was one major hinge on Camacho's career. At the time Hector was one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. He was coming off devastating victories and was a hot commodity. Rosario was given little shot in the bout, almost viewed as a stepping stone . However, it did not play out that way. I cannnot remember the rouhnds but I'm pretty sure there were two of them where Rosario managed to corner and tee off on Hector landing blazing, murderous shots. Hector was still Hector and he managed to slip some and roll with others but Rosario was such a hard hitter than Camacho was seriously hurt. To his credit he did not go down and he managed to pitter-pat his way through the rest of the fight and get a razor thin decision. However, the boring, safety first Camacho was born and he never regained the former glory.
I was under the impression that it was a head shot which badly rocked Camacho and had him running for the rest of the round(5th round I believe), considering I've seen the fight.
Which is all the more puzzleing, Because the rest of his career proved. That Camacho did have a pretty sturdy Chin.
I think SP is right, round five sounds right ... Camacho proved to have a hell of a chin and was really tough ... the beatings he later took from Chavez and De La Hoya proved he was very tough .. he was just not a warrior in that sense.
