Mother to take Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho off life support

While family and friends of Hector “Macho” Camacho continued their vigil Friday, his mother said she has decided to pull the clinically brain dead former boxing champion off life support once the rest of his sons arrive at the hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Doctors pronounced Camacho, 50, clinically brain dead Thursday after a shooting earlier in the week in his hometown of Bayamon. The family has been torn over whether to keep him on life support.

“I lost my son three days ago,” his mother, Maria Matias, said during a news conference. “He’s alive only because of a machine. My son is not alive. My son is only alive for the people who love him.”

Hector Camacho Jr., the eldest son, told reporters his father has not been disconnected from an artificial respirator and that he as well as two of his aunts asked that Camacho Sr. remain on life support until at least Saturday.

Camacho, who won four world titles, one each in the featherweight and lightweight divisions and two in the welterweight class, has four sons from different relationships.

“It is a very difficult decision, a very delicate decision,” former pro boxer and longtime friend Victor “Luvi” Callejas told the Associated Press. “The last thing we lose is hope and faith. If there is still hope and faith, why not wait a little more?”

Camacho was shot in the face as he and a friend, Adrian Mojica Moreno, sat in a car parked outside a bar Tuesday night. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said officers found nine small bags of cocaine in Moreno’s pocket and another bag open inside the car. Moreno died in the attack.

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