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Five charged in 2012 murder of Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho

Hector Camacho is mobbed by his team and friends after he outpointed Ray Mancini for the WBO 140-pound title on March 6, 1989 in Reno, Nevada. Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Fighters Network
09
Mar

Prosecutors have charged five men in the 2012 murder of former boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho.

William Rodríguez, Jesús Naranjo Adorno and Joshua Méndez Romero were extradited from Orlando, Florida, where they were serving time on unrelated convictions, while Luis Ayala García was also incarcerated on unrelated charges in Puerto Rico.

Juan Figueroa Rivera was the only suspect who had been free; he was arrested on Wednesday following an early morning raid in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Two other suspects were killed in 2013 and 2015.



All five are facing first-degree murder and conspiracy charges stemming from the November 20, 2012 shooting outside a bar in Bayamon that killed Camacho and his childhood friend Adrian Mojica Moreno. Mojica was pronounced dead at the scene while Camacho was taken to San Pablo Hospital, where he was pronounced dead four days later.

News of the arrests brought joy to Camacho’s mother, María Matías, who had to make the difficult decision to remove her son from life support after he was declared brain dead.

“They gave me justice,” said Matías said. “I can sleep in peace. I can eat and drink a little cup of coffee in the morning.”

Camacho, who was 50 years old when he died, was born in Bayamon but raised in New York City. The flamboyant southpaw turned professional in 1980 and won world titles at 130, 135 and 140 pounds, amassing a record of 79-6-3 (38 knockouts). He was a massively popular figure who faced a who’s who of boxing names during his career, including Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar de la Hoya and Felix Trinidad. He was the only boxer to knock out Sugar Ray Leonard, and had never been knocked out himself.

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015, his first year of eligibility.

Figueroa is being held on $1 million bond, while Ayala, Mendez and Rodriguez are being held on $800,000 bond. Naranjo is being held on $300,000 bond.

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