Hector Camacho: 1962—: Boxer

Camacho was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, on May 24, 1962. When he was three years old, his mother left his father and moved with Camacho and his older sister, Raquel, to Spanish Harlem in New York City. The family lived in a variety of public housing projects, often lacking heat and hot water. Camacho got in his first street fight when he was nine years old. Always a boisterous, daring child, Camacho picked on an older, bigger boy in his neighborhood. When the boy got fed up and threatened to do him harm, Camacho went running home, crying to his mother. She suggested in no uncertain terms that if he didn't go back and stand up for himself, he'd have to deal with her. Dutifully, and in fear of his mother's wrath, Camacho returned to pummel the bigger boy.

Camacho's first fight was just one of many to come. On the tough streets of Spanish Harlem, he fought often and, by his count, never lost—even if he had to resort to a brick or a bat to ensure an outcome in his favor. His mother's iron will kept her son out of the local gang, the Spanish Kings, which most of his friends had joined by the age of 12. He did, however, visit the local department store, where he shoplifted his favorite toys until he had a whole collection of G.I. Joes. When his mother discovered his stash, she threw them all in the incinerator, but Camacho simply replaced his confiscated toys with another trip to the store.