7:35 AM
March 1, 1997: Hector "Macho" Camacho watches as "Sugar" Ray Leonard falls to the canvas during action in the fifth round of their fight.
March 1, 1997: Hector "Macho" Camacho watches as "Sugar" Ray Leonard falls to the canvas during action in the fifth round of their fight.
Charles Rex Arbogast /AP"Former world boxing champion Hector 'Macho"' Camacho went into cardiac arrest Wednesday morning but was stabilized by doctors after being shot in the face Tuesday outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico," ESPN reports.
It adds that:
"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."
The Associated Press reminds us that the now-50-year-old Camacho:
"Won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s. ... Camacho knocked out ["Sugar" Ray] Leonard in 1997, ending what was that former champ's final comeback attempt. Camacho has a career record of 79-5-3, with his most recent fight coming in 2009.
"Drug, alcohol and other problems have trailed Camacho 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."
As for the shooting, according to ESPN:
"Another man in the car, whose relationship to the 50-year-old Camacho wasn't immediately known, died in the attack in which at least one gunman opened fire on their vehicle in the city of Bayamon, according to a statement from police.
"The bullet apparently struck him in the jaw but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder and fractured two vertebrae, Torres said. The doctor said the boxer, who was trailed by drug and alcohol problems during a career that included some high-profile bouts, could be paralyzed from the shooting."
