So much for "Rest In Peace" - a violent Camacho funeral brawl is dominating headlines and overshadowing the memorial service for the former world champion boxer.
During the second day of the viewing of the body of legendary boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho, a fight erupted between a woman claiming to be his girlfriend, his former lover, and the athlete's sisters, reported The Christian Post. A group of family, fans and fellow boxers had gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Tuesday, Nov. 27, to say their farewells to the fallen champion.
The altercation reportedly began after 28-year-old Cynthia Castillo, dressed in a pink T-shirt emblazoned with Camacho's face, leaned down to kiss his body in the open casket.
The woman then walked into a "family-only" area provoking the ire of the boxer's sisters and former lover, 50-year-old Gloria Fernandez.
The brawl eventually spread outside the memorial service, a pack of journalists following the chaos closely with camera phones.
Castillo claimed to be Camacho's girlfriend before he recently died. She called him "my partner, my friend, my brother," according to El Nuevo Dia.
Police urged the young woman to leave the scene while the boxer's sisters returned to the service.
Castillo said, according to the Associated Press: "I am the actual girlfriend of Macho, and those who don't like it better not bring it. They shouldn't be going after me. They should be thanking me for being with him at all times."
Castillo claims that she was told to leave the funeral by Fernandez and Camacho's sisters, Esther and Estrella. "I went to get something to eat because Machito (Hector Camacho Jr.) told me to, and (Fernandez) came up to me and told me that I had to leave. I said no, so they threw my plate of food and attacked me, and I defended myself," she told ESPN Deportes.
Camacho was shot in a drive-by shooting while sitting in a parked car with a friend outside a bar in his hometown of Bayamon on Nov. 20 and died three days later after doctors removed him from life support; he was 50-years-old. His friend died at the scene. Police have said they have suspects but have not yet arrested anyone for the shooting.
The athlete was known for leading a flamboyant lifestyle when he was alive, and it seems that even in his death there was as much controversy. Emotional scenes continued throughout the day as members of Camacho's immediate family approached the coffin, according to The Post.
Maria Matias, the boxer's mother, wept while caressing her son's face in the coffin, which was draped in a Puerto Rican flag. "They killed him," she cried at one point, said the Post.
Camacho's body has now been flown to New York and there will be another viewing and the funeral on Saturday at 9 a.m. EST. The burial will take place at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.
