Five Suspects Are Arrested in Murder of Hector “Macho” Camacho Ten Years Later
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Bayamon, Puerto Rico (March 11th, 2022)– Ten years after the murder of colorful boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in 2012, five men have been arrested and charged with the murder of Camacho. Two other suspects died in 2012 and 2013. As part of what is not called “Operation Knockout”, three suspects currently serving sentences for unrelated crimes were flown in from Florida. A fourth suspect was arrested in Camacho’s hometown, Bayamon, Puerto Rico. A fifth suspect remains in prison in Puerto Rico for an unrelated crime. All five were charged with murdering Camacho on March 9, 2022.
Hector Camacho’s mother strolled into the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, raising her right fist, exclaiming “Justice has been done! (for my son). They gave me justice! I can sleep in peace. I can eat and drink a little cup of coffee in the morning (tomorrow).”
Camacho, 50, was gunned down outside the Azuquita Bar in Bayamon on November 24, 2012, sitting in a Ford Mustang with a friend, Adrien Mojica Moreno, who was shot while in the possession of ten small bags of cocaine, one bag of which was found open at the scene. A southpaw, Camacho compiled a career boxing record of 79-6-3 with 38 knockouts between 1980 and 2012. His chin was solid, and he was never injured, hurt, knocked or stopped in 88 professional bouts. Camacho, a Golden Gloves champion many times, held various world titles at super featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and super welterweight, and owned victories over such established world champions as Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Greg Haugen, Ray Mancini, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Edwin Rosario, Freddie Roach, Jose Luis Ramirez, Rafael Solis and Rafael Limon.
The suspects arrested are identified as: William Rodriguez Rodriguez, Luis Ayala Garcia, and Joshua Mendez Romero, who are being held on 800 thousand dollars bond each over and above their current incarceration; the fourth murder suspect, Jesus Naranjo Adorno, who was arrested at home wearing only a towel around his waist as he was taken away by police, and is being held on 300 thousand dollars bail; the fifth suspect, current in Puerto Rican Prison, Juan Figueroa Rivera, is being held in the Camacho case on an additional one million dollars bail. It is not known if the death penalty will be on the table when the cases are tried together. Camacho was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame posthumously in 2016. His son, Hector Camacho Jr., boxed between 1996 and 2021, and posted a record of 58-6-1 with 32 knockouts fighting between super lightweight and light heavyweight. Camacho Jr.’s last ring appearance was a four round unscored exhibition against Julio Cesar Chavez in Guadalajara, Mexico on June 19, 2021.
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