Camacho beats Albert in ROF main event

“Guerra time” in the Marianas made a successful comeback after five years and it did not disappoint the hundreds that flocked and rocked the Garapan Central Park Roundhouse last Saturday.

The long-awaited main event bout was won by CNMI’s Andres “Tanapag Beach Bad Boy” Camacho via a split decision scoring of the three rounds—30-29, 29-30, and 30-28—against Guam Muay Thai’s Jake Albert.

Camacho and Albert finally entered the ring around 12:30am as the MMA faithful burned the midnight oil along with the fighters in Trench Warz Promotions’ “Ring of Fire” boxing and kickboxing event that started at 6pm and ended past 1am the next morning.

Blow by eyebrow-splitting and chin-rattling blow was met with the crowd’s oohs and screams that provided the ear-shattering soundtrack to the intense exchanges in the ring.

The first round was an explosion of fury, adrenaline, and energy that left spectators on the edge of their seats and made them lose their breath as Camacho laid it on Albert for a first round that favored the Tanapag Beach Bad Boy.

The second round saw a return of heavy fire by Albert who landed multiple shots to a tiring Camacho. Camacho almost fell once in a fit of exhaustion, but regained composure and kept the fight going.

By the third and final round, both fighters were exhausted and it was evident with their much slower exchanges, but they still gave it their all until the final second.

Camacho came pounding back with more fervor to try to secure the win and the home-town advantage stoked his fire as the crowd cheered him in unison to his unanswered assail on Albert that sealed Camacho’s win.

The 24-year-old Camacho was emotional after the fight and dropped to his knees as the “Norfside” soundtrack by Travis Kaliga played over the speakers announcing that he had won and the crowd exploded into cheers.

Camacho said he felt multiple emotions as he first entered the ring to the soundtrack and that it was like a welcoming home party after being away from home for two and a half years.

The U.S. Marine said of his fight that, “it was simple, basic, trust my training, and win. I gotta beat my opponent. I went in there with a ‘kill mindset,’ but also with a reality state of mind, where I was like, ‘I just gotta beat him.’ So just simple, basic, but also in a special way.”

He said of Albert that was a “tough guy. He did not want to go down. He had an islander chin. He’s not a very big guy so that kind of boosted my confidence. I felt like I could’ve knocked him out—but this guy surprised me. I trained super hard for this fight to knock him out, but this man didn’t want to go down.”

He dedicated his win to the people of Saipan, people who came out to support the “young and up-and-coming fighters,” and to his training partners, “because without them, this wouldn’t be possible.”

Camacho thanked everyone for coming out to watch and support and, “I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. Thank you to all my fans, and my team YoungBoys Inc., and coach Cuki [Alvarez] for inviting more over to Trench [Tech].”

Camacho trained along with his brother, Jose with Trench Tech, under coach Justis “Cuki” Alvarez before his fight, but also trained in Hawaii with YoungBoys Inc. under his coach, Nainoa Dung, professional MMA fighter who used to fight in Bellator MMA. He then said he was proud of his brother for the training and effort he put into his own match, which he won also won.

Results of the other fights will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.