Intro:

Mourners turned out in their hundreds on Saturday to say a final farewell to boxing legend Hector Camacho.

Script:

Hundreds of mourners turned out in East Harlem, New York on Saturday to say a final farewell to one of boxing's most colourful characters, Hector 'Macho' Camacho.

Camacho died after he was shot at point-blank range while he sat in a car with his friend in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on November 20th.

Despite being a native Puerto Rican, Camacho spent much of his life in New York having moved to the Big Apple as a child.

Around 300 people turned out for the former three-weight world champion's funeral at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church, while hundreds more lined the streets.

Camacho's high-profile bouts with the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard made him a legend in his home country and one supporter summed up what Macho meant to the people of Puerto Rico.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Angel Ramos, Hector Camacho Mourner:(On what Hector Camacho meant to community)
"He make us proud of what he did, choosing that career of boxing. And to us, he was the Muhammad Ali in Puerto Rico."

Camacho's funeral marked the end of two days of mourning in Spanish Harlem and his son, Hector Camacho Jr, said the number of well wishers who had turned out to say goodbye proved how loved he was by the people.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Hector Camacho Jr., Hector Camacho's son: (On memory of his father)
"He was a beautiful man to everybody. That's why he had so much love and support, he was a great man. My father was everything, I mean, he was a friend to strangers, a brother to people who know him, a good heart. It's sad that he goes, but at the end of the day what matters was, not legacy, not the money he has made, his heart."

After the funeral Camacho was laid to rest at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.