By Mike Sempervive
Oh my Lord, this was bad.
In fact, “Nations Collide II,” a presentation of TV Vision and mixed martial arts promotion Real Fighting Championships, may have actually presented the worst boxing pay-per-view of modern times, closing with a main event of Hector “Macho” Camacho Senior – turning 47-years old in two weeks – fight to an eight round draw against 37-year old, 107-fight veteran, Yory Boy Campas.
The 154-pound bout was originally scheduled to take place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey but was forced to move on less than a week’s notice to a Doubletree Hotel in Orlando, Florida when Aaron Davis, the head of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, decided against issuing a license to Camacho. Concern over giving a license to a nearly 47-year old man, who looked like he was wearing concrete shoes in training, was too much for him – despite this being one of the more notable events for Atlantic City boxing, this year.
Camacho may have looked faster, and helped his cause if he would have asked to spar his trainer for the bout – the legendary Angelo Dundee, who will be turning 88 on August 30, and was one of the few people there actually older than the fighters. The Puerto Rican “Macho Man,” whose record now stands at 79 (38)-5 (0)-3, continued to be slow in this bout – but he made up for it with lots of holding. When he wasn’t holding, he was backpedaling, and throwing punches one at a time.
Camacho made his professional debut in September 1980, and pretty much ceased being a contending threat by the time Oscar De La Hoya battered him for twelve rounds, in a bout that took place twelve years ago. After the bout, Campas claimed “I think because we’re in his town they gave us a draw… He needs to understand he’s not the same Camacho he was before, but, oh well.”
He shouldn’t talk.
Campas, 92 (74)-14 (8)-1, came into the fight losing 4 of his last 5, 6 of 10, and 8 of 15. He too hasn’t been a legitimate contender in well over a decade, with his title-loss to Fernando Vargas in December of 1998 signaling the end. After the fight, Campas reiterated his goal of wanting to get 100 wins before he retires, and also called out Felix Trinidad. Campas may want to avenge his IBF welterweight (147-pound) title TKO-4 loss, a fight that will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary in September, but did nothing to inspire confidence in a rematch with the twice-retired “Tito” ending any differently.
The final scores were 77-75 for Campas, 78-74 for Camacho, and 76-76, with the draw capping a night of boxing that may not have been a value if the show’s consumers had actually received the $29.95, instead of paying for it. It was produced by low-power, bilingual, WTAM in Tampa, which doubles as TV Vision. The show looked to capitalize on the nostalgia of Camacho’s name, and the hope that satellite homes in the Caribbean would be willing to pay, but was an all-around failure that may end up with a record-low buyrate to go along with the placement it will hold in history’s cellar.
Longtime announcer Colonel Bob Sheridan (truly the shiniest bright spot), and partner Bob Alexander, made a Yoeman’s effort in keeping up their enthusiasm, despite being surrounded by a miniscule crowd, that sat on their hands until the main event. The four-round featherweight “co-feature,” and the only other fight announced before the show began, Amanda Serrano, 20 years old of Brooklyn, wiped out Brittany Cruz, 19 years old of Thornton, Colorado, with a first round knockout. From a family of fighters, Serrano (now 2-0) threw wide, but landed almost all of her hard punches to Cruz’ head. Cruz, now 3-2, is a two-time Colorado Golden Gloves champion. When she was dropped to the canvas, Cruz seemed to give the impression that she was more exhausted from the punches she had taken, than actually hurt by them, and that caused her inability to get back up.
Shockingly, the miniscule period of time Serrano spent in the ring, was actually the highlight of the night. The mercifully short, sub-par, matches created a production nightmare for viewers watching at home and online. All of the preliminary action was over with at 10:00 PM EDT – only an hour after the show had begun – and the struggle to fill time reached comedic proportions.
A short video package on Camacho and Campas re-aired. Multiple replays of Serrano’s KO were shown. A “highlight” package of the nights fights was shown – twice. There was a ten minute long sit-down interview with Campas 70-year old trainer Joe Diaz. There was a three-minute sit-down interview with Hector Camacho Junior, who said once he’s done with detox that he’ll be back, better than ever, and is aiming to fight on July 24. Amanda Serrano got dressed after her bout, and came back out for an interview, as well.
After about 35 minutes of time-filling by the announcers, former heavyweight championship claimant Pinklon Thomas got into the ring and proceeded to cut a seven-minute promo to try and keep the crowd awake. Thomas alternated back-and-forth between preaching and rambling, mentioning how great of a crowd Orlando is, overselling the amount of people who were there – while also calling for much more for the next event, saying he was a “ten-time” champion, celebrating Angelo Dundee, claiming he will get amateur boxing get back on the right track, and more.
Following a battery of National Anthems, the main event finally begun, but it was obvious from the beginning that viewers were in for a long night. The show began with an ice cold pre-taped opening of Sheridan and Alexander running down the card in front of an empty banquet room, giving the impression, at least initially, that there was literally no one there. It was then thrown live – with the Spanish feed. After a minute, or so, that was taken care of. Next it was time for the sound levels to be adjusted, as the fighters entered the ring for the first bout.
The opener was a four-round cruiserweight fight that saw Pedro Saldana defeat Reynaldo Rodriguez in 44 seconds, after Saldana backed him in to the corner and landed about three of the fifteen wide and sloppy punches he threw, forcing Rodriguez to a knee. Hampered by being in no shape, whatsoever, Rodriguez chose not to continue. Both were making their debuts. Replays of the bout went on for way too long, but Sheridan (who has worked so many lingering shows, and for so many sloppy productions, that he may be the best announcer in the world under those types of circumstances) did a good job trying to create filler, and going into stall mode for the first time of the night.
Fight two saw a debuting Aaron Rodriguez get off to a quick start – but falter just as fast, losing a TKO-3 to Angel Albelo, of Orlando, in a four-round featherweight bout. Albelo, 21, now raises his record to 2 (0)-2 (0). Rodriguez, who has been out of prison for ten months following a five-year sentence for assault, was announced as having a 23-5 amateur record, and is a 30-year old rookie from Crystal River, Florida.
Bout three featured another debut, as 153-pound Jonathan Brookins, 23 of Ocala, debuted by stopping a physically overmatched 142-pound Carlos Ayola, 24 of Crystal River, in the second, of a scheduled four-rounder. Not only was Ayola giving up 11 pounds, but he also was six inches shorter, and had at least a three-inch reach disadvantage.
For anyone wondering what Nation’s Collide I could have possibly been like, it was a all-MMA card that took place on February 27 in Tampa, and saw Edson Berto (brother of undefeated welterweight boxer Andre Berto) win a split decision.
Send us a news tip: newstips@wrestlingobserver.com
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news from this site or from our newsletters, please include a link to www.wrestlingobserver.com
For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Wrestlingobserver.com/Figure Four Weekly Online, the #1 website of its kind on the Internet. Members receive online access to both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly newsletters and growing archives, Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer three times per week, the popular Bryan and Vinny Show twice per week, additional radio shows including Figure Four Daily with Alvarez, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare, Tough Talk and the Karl Stern Wrestling History Show, the infamous BOARD, and more! Members also have full access to the thousands of hours of audio in our radio show archives which date back to 2005. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now! Don\'t miss out on the fun, sign up now!
Want full access? QUICK AND EASY $10.99 SIGNUP!
