Josue Camacho: Puerto Rico’s WBO Light-Flyweight Champion
Puerto Rican boxer Josué “Dickie” Camacho won the vacant WBO light-flyweight world title on 31 July 1992, knocking out Eddie Vallejo in the sixth round. His reign continued until July 1994.
Josué Camacho’s WBO championship reign
Camacho, whose full name is Josué Camacho Santiago, came from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Born on 31 January 1969, he was 23 when he captured the championship in San Juan. The title had become vacant after fellow Puerto Rican José de Jesús was stripped for failing to make a required defense.
That succession matters when placing Camacho within Puerto Rico’s boxing history. He followed de Jesús as a WBO light-flyweight champion; he was not the first Puerto Rican to hold that particular belt. His sixth-round victory over Vallejo established his own place in the division’s championship lineage.
Defense against Weir and the Carbajal fight
Camacho defended the title against Scotland’s Paul Weir in Glasgow on 2 February 1994. He won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds, successfully taking his championship overseas.
His next defense brought a different result. On 15 July 1994 in Phoenix, Michael Carbajal defeated him by unanimous decision over 12 rounds and became WBO champion. The embedded video accompanies that contest, which marked the end of Camacho’s nearly two-year reign.
Camacho later fought Leo Gamez in San Juan on 29 May 1999 for the interim WBA super-flyweight championship. Gamez won by stoppage in round eight. That later challenge took place in a heavier division than the light-flyweight category in which Camacho had held his world title.
BoxRec and the title-fight record document Camacho’s championship win. Sources: [1] [2]
Sources
Career records and reporting: boxrec.com.
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
