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Former world boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho went into cardiac arrest Wednesday morning and is on life support after being shot in the face Tuesday outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"The situation with 'Macho' is very delicate," Centro Medico director Dr. Ernesto Torres told reporters during a 7 a.m. media briefing on Wednesday. "The prognosis is not good."
Friend and former manager Ismael Leandry told The Associated Press Wednesday that doctors were waiting for Camacho's mother to decide whether Camacho, 50, should be taken off life support. She was expected to arrive Wednesday morning from the U.S. mainland.
"We just have to wait to see if Macho gets better. It's a hard battle," Leandry told AP.
Camacho was shot as he sat in the passenger's side of the car outside the Puerto Rican capital Tuesday and was rushed to the trauma center in San Juan. Doctors said he was in critical but stable condition after suffering cardiac arrest at 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
"He went into cardiac arrest. The doctors were able to get his heart started again with the medicine, and we are maintaining his blood pressure and pulse stable medically right now to see whether during this morning, afternoon or evening we see a positive change," Torres said.
Torres cautioned that there was decreased brain activity in the former champ overnight.
"We will maintain him in this way we are maintaining him medically, and we will wait to see how he responds," Torres said. "He is a strong guy. The prognosis could change if he improves. The neurosurgeons are not intervening further at this point."
Another man in the driver's seat of the car, identified as Adrian Alberto Mojica Moreno, 49, of Toa Baja, died in the attack, in which at least one gunman opened fire on their vehicle in Bayamon, according to a statement from police.
Mojica Moreno's relationship to Camacho wasn't immediately known, but on Wednesday, detective Alex Diaz told ESPN.com that Mojica Moreno had nine bags of cocaine in his possession with a 10th bag open in the Ford Mustang, which was registered to Mojica Moreno. He had been arrested for possession of controlled substances in April 2012, according to Diaz.
The bullet apparently struck Camacho in the jaw but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder and fractured two vertebrae, Torres said. Mojica Moreno was shot right next to his Ford Mustang as he got out and tried to flee while Camacho was shot in the passenger's seat.
"Camacho's condition is extremely delicate," he told Telenoticias on Tuesday night. "His physical condition will help him, but we will see."
No arrests have been made in the shooting, police said.
Camacho representative Steve Tannenbaum said friends told him 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."
The fighter's last title bout was a loss by unanimous decision to then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997. Tannenbaum said that Camacho was going to fight two years ago in Denmark until his opponent pulled out and that 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 won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.
Camacho has fought other high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending what was that former champ's final comeback attempt.
Camacho has a career record of 79-6-3 (38 KOs), with his most recent fight coming in 2010.
Camacho has faced drug, alcohol and other problems since the prime of his boxing career. 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.
Twice his wife filed domestic abuse complaints against him, and she filed for divorce several years ago.
http://m.espn.go.com/extra/boxing/story?storyId=8659236
"The situation with 'Macho' is very delicate," Centro Medico director Dr. Ernesto Torres told reporters during a 7 a.m. media briefing on Wednesday. "The prognosis is not good."
Friend and former manager Ismael Leandry told The Associated Press Wednesday that doctors were waiting for Camacho's mother to decide whether Camacho, 50, should be taken off life support. She was expected to arrive Wednesday morning from the U.S. mainland.
"We just have to wait to see if Macho gets better. It's a hard battle," Leandry told AP.
Camacho was shot as he sat in the passenger's side of the car outside the Puerto Rican capital Tuesday and was rushed to the trauma center in San Juan. Doctors said he was in critical but stable condition after suffering cardiac arrest at 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
"He went into cardiac arrest. The doctors were able to get his heart started again with the medicine, and we are maintaining his blood pressure and pulse stable medically right now to see whether during this morning, afternoon or evening we see a positive change," Torres said.
Torres cautioned that there was decreased brain activity in the former champ overnight.
"We will maintain him in this way we are maintaining him medically, and we will wait to see how he responds," Torres said. "He is a strong guy. The prognosis could change if he improves. The neurosurgeons are not intervening further at this point."
Another man in the driver's seat of the car, identified as Adrian Alberto Mojica Moreno, 49, of Toa Baja, died in the attack, in which at least one gunman opened fire on their vehicle in Bayamon, according to a statement from police.
Mojica Moreno's relationship to Camacho wasn't immediately known, but on Wednesday, detective Alex Diaz told ESPN.com that Mojica Moreno had nine bags of cocaine in his possession with a 10th bag open in the Ford Mustang, which was registered to Mojica Moreno. He had been arrested for possession of controlled substances in April 2012, according to Diaz.
The bullet apparently struck Camacho in the jaw but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder and fractured two vertebrae, Torres said. Mojica Moreno was shot right next to his Ford Mustang as he got out and tried to flee while Camacho was shot in the passenger's seat.
"Camacho's condition is extremely delicate," he told Telenoticias on Tuesday night. "His physical condition will help him, but we will see."
No arrests have been made in the shooting, police said.
Camacho representative Steve Tannenbaum said friends told him 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."
The fighter's last title bout was a loss by unanimous decision to then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997. Tannenbaum said that Camacho was going to fight two years ago in Denmark until his opponent pulled out and that 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 won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.
Camacho has fought other high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending what was that former champ's final comeback attempt.
Camacho has a career record of 79-6-3 (38 KOs), with his most recent fight coming in 2010.
Camacho has faced drug, alcohol and other problems since the prime of his boxing career. 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.
Twice his wife filed domestic abuse complaints against him, and she filed for divorce several years ago.
http://m.espn.go.com/extra/boxing/story?storyId=8659236