SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hector “Macho” Camacho will be taken off life support, his mother said last night, indicating she would have doctors do that today.
It was a decision the former championship boxer’s eldest son opposed.
The boxer’s mother, Maria Matias, told reporters outside the hospital where Camacho lay unconscious since being shot in the face that she had decided doctors should remove life support, but only after three of his sons arrived in Puerto Rico early today and had a chance to see him a last time.
“I lost my son three days ago. He’s alive only because of a machine,” Matias said. “My son is not alive. My son is only alive for the people who love him.”
The three other sons were expected to arrive from the U.S. mainland around midnight Friday. “Until they arrive, we will not disconnect the machine,” Matias said.
Doctors have said Camacho is clinically brain dead from a shooting Tuesday night in his hometown of Bayamon.
Camacho was shot as he sat in a car with a friend. A police spokesman said an open bag of cocaine was found in the car.