SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico • Hector "Macho" Camacho was clinging to life Wednesday after being shot in the face while in a car, with doctors and his family expected to decide whether to remove the former boxing champion from life support.
Doctors had said Camacho was in critical, but stable condition and expected to survive after he was shot Tuesday night in his hometown of Bayamon. But his condition worsened overnight and his heart stopped at one point, said Dr. Ernesto Torres, director of the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan.
"He’s battling minute to minute. This is the most important fight of his life," Torres told The Associated Press outside the hospital in the Puerto Rican capital.
Torres said doctors were trying to determine the boxer’s level of brain activity.
The specialists will then consult with other doctors and Camacho’s mother, who flew in Wednesday from New York, to discuss whether he should be removed from life support, said Ismael Leandry, a longtime friend and former manager who was also at the hospital.
"We just have to wait to see if ‘Macho’ gets better. It’s a hard battle," Leandry told AP.
Torres said Camacho’s mother, Maria, spent about 20 minutes with her son, one of the most dynamic boxing personalities of his era, and was expected to return for a second visit on Wednesday night.
"His mother came and she is devastated," he said. "She knows the prognosis is not at all favorable."
A godson, Widniel Adorno, said the family has discussed the possibility of organ donation but no final decision has been made.
The 50-year-old Camacho was outside a bar in a parked Ford Mustang with a friend when he was shot in the face. The friend, identified as 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, was killed. Police said two assailants fled in an SUV but no arrests have been made and no motive has been disclosed.
-
Susan Powell’s brother-in-law went from affable to suspicious
Published May 22, 2013 01:01:05AM -
The carefree art of the wonderful summer cocktail
Published May 22, 2013 01:01:04AM -
Sugar House Streetcar vote continues to echo in City Hall
Published May 22, 2013 01:01:04AM -
4A softball: Bohling slams Salem Hills past Box Elder
Published May 21, 2013 11:32:29PM
Camacho was rushed to Centro Medico, where doctors initially said he was fortunate in that the bullet passed through his head and lodged in his shoulder. Torres did warn, however, that the boxer, who was trailed by drug and alcohol problems during a career that included some high-profile bouts, could be paralyzed from the shooting.
Steve Tannenbaum, who has also represented Camacho in the past, said he was told by friends at the hospital that the boxer would make it.
"This guy is a cat with nine lives. He’s been through so much," he said. "If anybody can pull through it will be him."
Friends and family members waited anxiously at the hospital, fondly recalling Camacho’s high-energy personality and his powerful skills in the ring.
"He was like a little brother who was always getting into trouble," said former featherweight champion Juan Laporte, a fellow Puerto Rican who grew up and trained with Camacho in New York.
Camacho has been considered one of the more controversial figures in boxing.
The fighter’s last title bout came against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997, a loss by unanimous decision. He last fought in May 2010, losing to Saul Duran. Tannenbaum said they were looking at a possible bout in 2013.
"We were talking comeback even though he is 50," he said. "I felt he was capable of it."
Camacho was born in Bayamon, one of the cities that make up the San Juan metropolitan area
He left Puerto Rico as a child and grew up mostly in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, one of the reasons he later earned the nickname "the Harlem Heckler."
He went on to win super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.
Next Page >Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
