Camacho Wins Decision but Not Crowd in L.A. Debut

LOS ANGELES — Alternately getting a warm welcome, catcalls of frustration and bored boos, Hector (Macho) Camacho made his Los Angeles debut Thursday night at the Grand Olympic Auditorium with a neat and unsatisfying 10-round unanimous decision over Tony Rodriguez.

Camacho, whose appeal to a Los Angeles audience had been questioned because of his Puerto Rican descent and elusive style, received a buoyant reception from the crowd of about 3,300 when he entered the ring wearing a sombrero and dancing to a Mexican tune.

But the warmth did not last long.

In a junior-middleweight performance that did not endear him to an audience looking for action, Camacho sliced and slapped at Rodriguez, choosing to slip away whenever there was the possibility of some interesting exchanges.

Camacho (55-3) dominated the fight at all times, scoring often with flashing lefts to the body and head, and the slower, more methodical, more aggressive Rodriguez landed few meaningful punches.

Camacho won on all three judges’ cards, by seven, three and three points.

Knowing that he is friendly with Mexican hero Julio Cesar Chavez, who defeated him in 1992, many at the Olympic chanted “Cha-vez, Cha-vez” intermittently through the fight.

The frustrated crowd eventually raised a few chants of “To-ny, To-ny, To-ny” as the fight edged toward the later rounds and Camacho refused to meet Rodriguez straight up.

The fight began with each man measuring the other and Camacho scoring with quick counterpunches whenever Rodriguez chose to initiate the action.

Rodriguez (13-2) kept pressing Camacho through the middle rounds, missing most of the time, but Camacho’s movement and unwillingness to stay in front of Rodriguez and brawl earned catcalls by the sixth.

When Camacho received a point penalty for holding Rodriguez’s head and hitting in the eighth, most of the audience cheered.

And when Rodriguez caught Camacho cleanly with an overhand right at the ninth-round bell, he received the loudest cheer of the night.

In an earlier bout, veteran Mexican junior-middleweight Rodolfo (Gato) Gonzalez (54-7-1) fought to an eight-round draw with Wilbur Kiggunda (12-7-2).