Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, World Boxing Champ, Dies After Shooting

Hector “Macho” Camacho, a former world boxing champion, died four days after he was shot in his native Puerto Rico. He was 50.

Camacho was on life support at Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Associated Press reported, citing Ernesto Torres, the hospital’s director. Torres said Camacho suffered cardiac arrest early yesterday, was taken off life support, and died shortly thereafter, the wire service said.

Camacho was shot Nov. 20 while sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car outside a bar in Bayamon, his hometown. The bullet struck Camacho in the jaw and exited his head before lodging in his right shoulder and fracturing two vertebrae, the AP cited Torres as saying.

The car’s driver also was killed in the shooting, the AP said. No arrests have been made and no motive for the shooting has been disclosed.

Camacho was born on May 24, 1962, in Bayamon, part of the San Juan metropolitan area.

He won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s and retired in 2010 with a 79-6-3 career record, according to the Ring magazine’s website.

His career included fights against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. He knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending Leonard’s final comeback attempt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net.

Enlarge image

Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, World Boxing Champion

Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Hector Camacho rides on the shoulders of his trainer after defeating Roberto Duran in a 12 round decision after their IBC Middleweight fight in Atlantic City in 1996.

Hector Camacho rides on the shoulders of his trainer after defeating Roberto Duran in a 12 round decision after their IBC Middleweight fight in Atlantic City in 1996. Photographer: Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty Images