Former world boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho went into cardiac arrest Wednesday morning and is on life support after being shot in the face Tuesday outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"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."
Friend and former manager Ismael Leandry told The Associated Press Wednesday that doctors were waiting for Camacho's mother to decide whether Camacho, 50, should be taken off life support. She was expected to arrive Wednesday morning from the U.S. mainland.
"We just have to wait to see if Macho gets better. It's a hard battle," Leandry told AP.
Camacho was shot as he sat in the passenger's side of the car outside the Puerto Rican capital Tuesday and was rushed to the trauma center in San Juan. Doctors said he was in critical but stable condition after suffering cardiac arrest at 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
"He went into cardiac arrest. The doctors were able to get his heart started again with the medicine, and we are maintaining his blood pressure and pulse stable medically right now to see whether during this morning, afternoon or evening we see a positive change," Torres said.
Torres cautioned that there was decreased brain activity in the former champ overnight.
"We will maintain him in this way we are maintaining him medically, and we will wait to see how he responds," Torres said. "He is a strong guy. The prognosis could change if he improves. The neurosurgeons are not intervening further at this point."