Boxing champ Hector “Macho” Camacho’s is dead, after his mother agreed to have him taken off life support even though his oldest son wanted to keep the boxer, who was shot in the face earlier this week, alive.
Camacho has been brain dead since he was shot on Tuesday, and his mother, Maria Matais told reporters she’s decided her son should be taken off life support after his sons arrive in Puerto Rico and can see their father one last time, reports ESPN.
I lost my son three days ago. He’s alive only because of a machine. My son is not alive. My son is only alive for the people who love him.
Camacho’s mother had final say in the matter, but his son, Hector Jr., says his father is a boxer who would “fight to to the end.” Likewise, his friends and colleagues weren’t sure if he should be removed from life support. Aida Camacho, one of the boxer’s aunts, said the family could also decide to donate the boxer’s organs.
Governor-elect Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Camacho will be missed.
The life of Macho Camacho, like other great athletes of ours, united the country. We celebrated his triumphs in the streets and we applauded him with noble sportsmanship when he didn’t prevail.
Camacho had a troubled life outside the ring, including several arrests and prison sentences. He was shot while sitting in a car with a friend, Mojica Moreno, who was killed in the attack — and police found nine bags of cocaine in the friend’s pocket and a 10th one open inside the car.
Camacho’s sisters want to bury him in New York, since he grew up mostly in Harlem, earning the nickname the “Harlem Heckler.”
The boxer 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. who he knocked out in 1997, ending the his final comeback attempt. Camacho had a career record of 79-6-3.
However, out of the ring, Camacho battled drug, alcohol and other problems. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for burglary, but a judge suspended all of one year of the sentence. He ended up spending two weeks in jail after violating probation and one of his wives filed domestic abuse charges against him twice before they divorced.
He was also facing felony child abuse charges. In April of 2012, the former boxing champion turned himself in to Orlando authorities after a warrant for his arrest was issued. Allegedly he picked up his teenage son by the neck, slammed him to the ground, and kicked him.