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| FILE - This June 22, 1996, file photo shows Hector "Macho" Camacho being lifted into the air after his unanimous decision over Roberto Duran in an IBC middleweight title fight at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. Police in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon say they found drugs inside the car in which former champion boxer Camacho was shot and critically wounded. Camacho was in critical condition Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, at the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. |
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Famed Puerto Rican boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho is clinically brain dead, doctors said Thursday, but family members disagreed on whether to take him off life support and two of the fighter's aunts said later that relatives had agreed to wait two more days.
Dr. Ernesto Torres said doctors had no more medical tests to perform on Camacho, who was shot in the face Tuesday night.
"We
have done everything we could," said Torres, who is director of the
Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. "We have to tell the people of
Puerto Rico and the entire world that Macho Camacho has died, he is
brain dead."
He said at a news conference
Thursday morning that Camacho's father indicated he wanted the boxer
taken off life support and his organs donated, but other relatives
opposed the idea.
"This is a very difficult moment," Torres said.
One
of the fighter's aunts, Aida Camacho, said Thursday evening that two of
Camacho's sisters had asked to have two more days to spend with him,
and other family members had agreed even though they felt it was time to
give in.
"I'm a person of a lot of faith, and I believe in miracles, but science has spoken," she said.
Another
aunt, Blanca Camacho, also said the family had agreed to the wishes of
the two sisters from New York to hold off on ending life support. But,
she added, "There's nothing left here. He's already dead."
Most of Camacho's relatives left the hospital by Thursday night without commenting.
About
a dozen people stood vigil outside. One, Orvil Miller, a singer and
actor, expressed sadness about Camacho's fate and recalled his
admiration for the fighter's flamboyance.
"He had the combination of the skills of a boxer along with a great sense for entertainment," Miller said.
Steve Tannenbaum, a friend and a former boxing agent for Camacho, said in a phone interview that he idolized Camacho as a boxer.
"He is one of the greatest small fighters that I have ever seen," he said. "Hector Camacho had a legendary status."
Tannenbaum
said he initially believed Camacho would survive. "He was almost like
the indestructible man.
He had so many troubles with the law, so many
altercations in his life. It's a great shame."
The
50-year-old Camacho was shot as he and a friend sat in a Ford Mustang
parked outside a bar Tuesday night. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said
officers found nine small bags of cocaine in the friend's pocket, and a
10th bag open inside the car. Camacho's friend, identified as
49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, was killed in the attack.
Doctors
had initially said Camacho was expected to survive, but his condition
worsened and his heart stopped briefly overnight Tuesday, Torres said.
The bullet entered his jaw and lodged in his shoulder after tearing
through three of four main arteries in his neck, affecting blood flow
through his brain, doctors said.
"That lack of oxygen greatly damaged Macho Camacho's brain," Torres said.
Camacho
was born in Bayamon, a city within the San Juan metropolitan area, but
he grew up mostly in New York's Harlem neighborhood, earning the
nickname "the Harlem Heckler."
He won super
lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the
1980s and fought high-profile bouts against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar
Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997,
ending the former champ's final comeback attempt. Camacho had a career
record of 79-6-3.
In recent years, he divided
his time between Puerto Rico and Florida, appearing regularly on
Spanish-language television as well as on a reality show called "Es
Macho Time!" on YouTube. In San Juan, he had been living in the beach
community of Isla Verde, where he would readily pose for photos with
tourists who recognized him on the street, said former pro boxer Victor
"Luvi" Callejas, a neighbor and friend.
Camacho
battled drugs, alcohol and other problems throughout his life. He was
sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for the burglary of a
computer store in Mississippi. While arresting him on the burglary
charge in January 2005, police also found the drug ecstasy.
A
judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave
Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail, though, after
violating that probation.
His wife also filed domestic abuse complaints against him twice before their divorce several years ago.
