Hector Camacho Jr. Has the Heart the Size of a Pea

Then Leija turned to Camacho Jr., standing on the other side of Merchant, and said. "We both know what happened."

Camacho Jr., now sporting jumbo sunglasses, told Merchant, "I was caught by a head butt by Leija, who was throwing elbows."

To make the interviews all the more grotesque, Merchant said to Goossen, who was standing behind them and coaching Camacho Jr. as to what to say, "Stop talking, or I'll cut this interview."

Goossen snapped back. "Then cut the interview." Then he kept telling Camacho Jr. how to answer Merchant's questions.

The bottom line, no matter how the pompous Goossen tries to spin this, Camacho Jr., when faced with a smaller, older fighter, who knew how to fight and wouldn't quit over a little, or even a big cut, dogged it in front of his hometown crowd. And to Goossen's dismay, because the fight was televised nationally by HBO, Camacho Jr.'s marketability went down like the NASDAQ last year after Alan Greenspan raised the interest rates.

Camacho Jr. is now perceived as a quitter by the boxing press and public. And quitters don't make the big bucks in boxing.

Just ask Andrew Golata.

At least Golata had the monster Mike Tyson firing bombs at his wobbly head when Golata threw in the towel. Physically, Jesse James Leija is about as big as Dan Goossen's integrity. But Leija showed HBO fight fans he has the heart the size of Brooklyn, while Camacho Jr.'s heart is the size of a pea.

The rumor is Goossen is planning to next match Camacho Jr. with Arturo Gatti. Gatti may be worn and washed up, but the first time he nails Camacho Jr., if he's able to nail Camacho Jr., look for Junior to jump right out of the ring. Right into Goossen's lap.

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