Boxing champion Hector Camacho Jr. recently returned home to his Spanish Harlem roots to make a special announcement. The world middleweight champion will join EntroBox, American Dream Presents, and Harrell Media Inc., in launching The Macho Cup Amateur Boxing event. With the warm weather approaching, Camacho, Jr envisions the free community-wide affair paying homage to his slain father by providing inner-city youth an alternative, positive outlet to release aggression. “Growing up in East Harlem was tough,” recalled Camacho Jr, who was raised in the James Weldon Johnson Housing Projects. “Boxing provided a way out and kept me focused. It’s a poor man’s sport that took my father from the ghetto to the white house.”
Named in honor of his father Hector “Macho” Camacho, the legendary Puerto Rican world champion boxer and entertainer who lost his life in a senseless drive-by shooting, The Macho Cup is part of Camacho Jr’s Gloves Up, Guns Down. It is a national social justice initiative that promotes boxing as a positive, healthy alternative to senseless gun violence. Locally the agency has teamed up with Street Corner Resources, a Harlem based nonprofit that serves as a positive alternative against the ongoing trend toward violence. “In order to get our young people to change direction,” shared Iesha Sekou, Founder and CEO of Street Corner Resources. “We have to set a new path. Boxing is a path in a new direction.”
The inaugural Macho Cup will take place May 18th, at James Weldon Johnson Community Center, 1833 Lexington Avenue, East Harlem, USA. Produced by Harlem based Harrell Media Inc., the event will be part of a festive week of celebration honoring the fighting pride of Spanish Harlem. Activities will include co-naming of 115th Street and Lexington Avenue, Macho Camacho Way, to be held on May 20th. In addition to the historic co-naming of the street, Bally’s Sports will air a special 60-minute documentary – “Macho Camacho Way” – chronicling the events leading up to the co-naming and the glorious celebration that will follow. Produced by Ron Johnson and Hector Camacho Jr., the film will premiere in June of 2023 on Bally’s linear and digital channels.
Hector “Macho” Camacho, East Harlem legend, won three New York State Golden Gloves tournaments before becoming a world champion boxer in three weight classes, WBC Super Featherweight, WBC Lightweight, and WBO Junior Welterweight. Hector “Macho” Camacho was the prized fighter that sent Sugar Ray Leonard into permanent retirement in 1997. On November 20, 2012, world champion boxer, who fought his way out of the rough streets of Spanish Harlem’s, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Puerto Rico. “He was a good man and a great dad,” shared Maida Olivo, Camacho, Jr’s mom. “So many mothers are losing their children to gun violence and it’s up to the parents to take a stand against it.”
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