Admittedly, Hector Camacho, Jr. has been taking his training a bit lightly and his opponents for granted throughout much of his 11-year professional boxing career. Those are mighty admissions from the son of a boxing legend who has but one loss and a single draw in 44 pro fights.
Realizing that the window of opportunity for a man once viewed as a “Can’t Miss Prospect” will remain open only so long, Camacho, Jr. has promised to himself and boxing fans that they will see a more focused and proficient performance beginning on Saturday night, June 10. That is when the Puerto Rico native and resident of Orlando, Florida, steps in the ring at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City against Ukrainian Andrey Tsurkan in a scheduled 10-round contest -- with the prize being a top world rating. This championship contest will be featured on the undercard of the Antonio Tarver-Bernard Hopkins telecast on HBO Pay-Per-View.
“I guess its time to be a lot more serious about my future. If not, it’ll be back to the minors. I need to win this bout and show everyone the focus and dedication I’ve put toward my conditioning,” the 27-year old southpaw revealed. “I want to show people that I can live up to my potential. With a victory the road is wide open for me.”
Camacho (41-1-1, 23 KOs) is coming off a win two months ago against tough veteran Virgil McClendon. In his only loss, more than four years ago against Omar Weis, Camacho almost beat the odds coming away with an out of shape victory, eventually losing a very narrow decision to Weis. He has since run off eight wins and a draw coming into the Tsurkan fight.
The 28-year old Tsurkan, currently living in Bronx, NY, debuted as a pro back in 1999 and brings a solid 22-2 (14 KOs) record into the fight, including victories in his last four bouts since dropping a decision in May, 2003 against Kuvanych Toygonbayev. He registered a fifth-round TKO over Julian Burford in his most recent outing last August.
Dan Goossen, Camacho’s promoter, believes this is a do-or-die fight in his fighter’s career and an impressive win could both help establish his credentials as a world title contender and help emerge from the shadow of his father, himself a world champion in four different weight classes.
“It’s somewhat amazing when you think about it. Hector has 41 victories while in my opinion has been only utilizing seventy percent of his natural God-given talent; and he’s only 27 years old. I’ve always told him, that if you took your training as seriously as your dad did, you would have the shot of being a great champion. June 10 we’ll find out if Hector wants to sacrifice to reach that next level.”
“A victory over Tsurkan puts Machito into the thick of things in the welterweight division,” Goossen observed. “Love him or hate him, with a win he will have fought his way back into contention – and not with his name.”
