Hector Camacho declared brain-dead by doctors in wake of shooting

Famed boxer Hector Camacho has been declared brain dead from a shooting. (Mark Leffingwell/Getty Images) Hector Camacho, a famed Puerto Rican boxer, has been
Hector Camacho declared brain-dead by doctors in wake of shooting
Hector Camacho declared brain-dead by doctors in wake of shooting /

Famed boxer Hector Camacho has been declared brain dead from a shooting. (Mark Leffingwell/Getty Images)

Hector Camacho from Puerto Rico waves to the crowd

Hector Camacho, a famed Puerto Rican boxer, has been declared brain-dead by doctors in the wake of an incident Tuesday night in his hometown city of Bayamon where nine small bags of cocaine were found in the pocket of his now-deceased friend seated next to him in a parked car outside a bar where the two were shot, according to an ESPN report. 

The director of the trauma center in San Juan where Camacho is being treated said the medical staff tried everything possible to help him:

"We have done everything we could. We have to tell the people of Puerto Rico and the entire world that Macho Camacho has died, he is brain-dead."

There are reportedly still some deliberations going on within the Camacho family as to whether he should remain on life support and a decision is expected by Friday. Doctors were initially reluctant to call him brain-dead and reported "irregular and intermittent brain activity" as of Wednesday night, but because the shot tore through four arteries in his neck, Camacho, 34, experienced a critical loss of oxygen to the brain, according to the doctor:

"That lack of oxygen greatly damaged Macho Camacho's brain."

Camacho had a career boxing record of 79-6-3, highlighted by fights against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard, who was knocked out by Camacho in 1997, thus marking the end of a comeback attempt for Leonard.


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