Hector "Macho" Camacho, a former multiple-time world boxing champion, was left brain dead on the night of Nov. 20 after being shot in the head in Puerto Rico.
Camacho and a friend named Alberto Yamil Mojica Moreno were sitting inside of a car when the shooting took place. Moreno, who was the driver of the car, was killed in the attack.
At first doctors thought Camacho would survive the ordeal, but recent reports out of San Juan say that he’s been taken off of life support and there’s nothing medically that can be done for the 50-year-old now.
Police said the shooting took place in the community of Bayamon, his hometown, and the boxer was rushed to a hospital in San Juan. Reports said that he was shot in the jaw and the bullet then left his head and went into his shoulder.
Two of Camacho’s vertebrae were fractured and it’s believed if he survives he’ll likely be paralyzed. He also suffered cardiac arrest after the shooting and it looks like it will take a miracle for him to survive.
Camacho has had a rough life, even though he was adored by millions of fans all over the world during his boxing career. He had problems with drugs and alcohol as well as family difficulties.
Details coming out of Puerto Rico are a little sketchy with some of them claiming that police have a suspect in custody already. Steve Tannenbaum, who is Camacho’s representative, said that if anybody could survive this ordeal it would be Camacho since he’s got nine lives and has been through a lot in his life already.
Camacho, a southpaw, was one of the greatest boxers of his era and took on the best in the world when in his prime. His career mark stands at 79-6-3 and he’s knocked out 38 of his opponents. He was more known for his slick boxing skills than for his slugging ability. Camacho’s last big bout came back in 1997 when he took on Oscar De La Hoya. He also fought world champions such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Felix Trinidad and Julio Cesar Chavez.
Throughout his 30-year career, Camacho has held world titles in the junior welterweight, lightweight, and featherweight divisions. He was a star in the 1980s and 1990s, but was still boxing professionally in 2010 and was hoping to fight again next year. Camacho fought Leonard in 1997 and knocked the former champion out, effectively ending his famous career.
However, when Camacho made the headlines in recent years it was always for the wrong reasons.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2007 for breaking into a Mississippi computer store two years earlier. When he was arrested, police found drugs in his possession, but the judge put the boxer on probation while suspending most of his sentence. Camacho violated probation and ended up in jail for two weeks.
He also had family problems with his ex-wife complaining twice to the police about domestic abuse. He was also arrested earlier this year on suspected child abuse charges against one of his sons.
