When did you first notice Hector Camacho's decline?

The Mancini fight was for his status at the time a terrible performance. People had been slagging him off for a couple of years prior to that, mainly for not fighting top opposition. But the Mancini fight showed a dip in performance, and then we started looking back and using hindsight to say Rosario was the end of his peak.

The reality is though he had enough name power and ability to least continue to get big fights through most of the 90s.

 

Don't know a heavyweight by this name.

 

Definitely, had a very good chin. He took some fair whacks from Chavez too but took em well.

 

After Vinny Pazienca he didn't maintain any discipline anymore once he won that fight.

 

Did Oscar do it?

 

Right after Rosario ... he fought Bozo Edwards, dropped him early and backed off ... the new Camacho had made his debut ...

 

After the Boza fight Camacho actually looked impressive and seemed to be his old self for a bit when he fought Howard Davis Jr in a more aggressive style. I think he truly became the new Camacho when he got dropped in the first round by Reyes Antonio Cruz.

 

As it's been stated many times already, after the Rosario fight he was not the same. He lost his nerve after getting rattled by Rosario. I remember watching one of his fights on HBO in 1990, and even he himself said something after the fight like "I just don't feel right" or something like that.
He should have handled Haugen with ease and did not. He just wouldn't let his damn hands go enough. I hated the 90s era Camacho when all he was into doing was beating lesser fighters, then, because of his name and colorful personality, he'd keep getting big money fights against the likes of Chavez, De La Hoya, and Trinidad, and then all he would do is try and survive for 12 rds and wasn't trying to win.

In the early 80s when he was new on the scene and beat Ramirez, I thought he was going to be something special. Outside the ring shananigans, drugs, lack of focus, losing at least some of his nerve because of Rosario, took it's toll and he missed his boat to greatness.

 

Yet the discussion here seems to be that Hector was far, far past his best (and by several years) by this time too.

So it cuts both ways.

I never get how in some matchups one guy has aged and the other is fresh as a daisy: Leonard has like one fight in five years and yet Hagler is ‘shot’ … while Leonard apparently while partying and doing cocaine and not fighting was in a hyperbaric chamber that preserved his 25-year-old self all this time, lol.

Same with Hector. He, too, was aging just as Leonard and Duran had.

 

To me, the turning point was seeing him fall apart sobbing on Tim Ryan's shoulder in the post fight interview after a so-so performance against very limited Louie Burke. He looked to me right then like a guy falling apart at the seams due to substance abuse. I remember saying to myself "Uh oh..." right when it happened. The Rosario performance was just the visible result of what was already happening- Camacho not training seriously and indulging in destructive habits.

 

I don't think he was in the decline physically after Rosario, but the mental effects were just as debilatating. I don't think Hector wanted to gut fights out. I think he was so good early 130 and 135 that he wanted to win his fights by domination all the time. Once it got to that level with Rosario being banged up he backed off and rethought it. And the way to get those same kinds of wins as before Rosario was to handpick a little more carefully, yet by that point he moved up in weight to 140 and that was affecting his speed and making it even harder to do good handpicking. But his prime weight and speed were 130..

 

Well he got his act together after the Burke fight and easily beat Ramirez later that year.

But, yes there had been drug rumors since his former manager Bill Giles said in 1984 "Hes drowning in drugs, he'll never make it back.

Hector aligned withe Marty Cohen who liked reclamation projexts and apparently if worked with Camacho in 1985-1986

 

He never looked especially impressive after the Rosario fight. I don’t know if it was the fight itself that changed him or if he just didn’t acclimate to fighting at higher weights very well. The other possibility is that some guys just have short primes

 

On June 13 1986 Hector Macho Camacho against challenger Edwin El Chapo Rosario in Madison Square Garden in a WBC Lightweight Title defense that was televised live by HBO. Camacho was badly rocked by Rosario's right hand, almost went down in round 6 but held on to capture a split 12 round verdict to retain his title. Camacho later refused Rosario a rematch, the proceeded to run a track meet on Sept 26 1986 against challenger Cornelious Boza Edwards, almost afraid of getting tagged, later Boza Edwards would complain that all Camacho did was run. On that same card, Edwin El Chapo Rosario would capture the WBA Lightweight Title with a TKO 2 of Champion Livingston Bramble.

 

Good point as usual, Saad. When that happened on CBS Sports Saturday though, you couldn't help but be suspicious about Hector's long term future. I'm guessing you saw it and went "Uh oh..." too.