34 years ago today: Gregory Lee "The Mutt" Haugen vs. Héctor Luís "Macho" Camacho Matías I

This content is protected

The first of two encounters* pitting most likely the GOAT from King's County vs. the GOAT from the city of Bayamón (and respectively arguably top 5 all-time p4p from the state of Washington and island of Puerto Rico). A rivalry full of the kind of dualistic Manicheanism that always casts upon the sport that extra little aura of grandeur: orthodox vs. southpaw, slow-and-steady brawler vs. fast-and-flashy mover, blue-collar "tough man" (Haugen actually cut his teeth on the so-named competition) vs. flamboyant showman. Yet they were full of similarities as well: both grew up in large, poor families; both had absentee fathers; both had working mothers taking care of them along with several other siblings. Both took up boxing in their prepubescent days and had successful runs to a triple digit tune: Haugen 300-25, and Camacho 96-4. Both could talk some premium trash in order to sell a fight.

In the ring, their chemistry made for a couple of close and entertaining affairs. Neither man really established himself as the other's true superior over 24 rounds.

Eerily enough, Haugen passed away earlier today, on the thirty-fourth anniversary of this, his biggest career triumph. Rest easy, Mutt.

* I was just a pup then; does anybody know why on earth this didn't get a rubber match? Was there call for one by the public and media? With them beating one another via SD, it almost seems like the situation demanded a trilogy resolution. It wasn't like Haugen went immediately slumping, either - he wouldn't lose again until JCC nearly two years later. He was posting mostly unimportant victories over nobodies for the rest of '91 and '92 but did sneak in a stoppage over an old Mancini. Camacho didn't exactly have more pressing business; he took off the rest of the year and didn't lace up in 1992 until August with his stoppage of Eddie VanKirk two divisions out-of-bounds. 15 months of inactivity doesn't look too flattering here. There was of course a JCC payday of his own that he didn't want to compromise, sure, but there was a score left to be settled here.