Former world boxing champion Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho has died at the hospital in Puerto Rico where he has been unconscious since he was shot in the face in an attack in his hometown.

Camacho went into cardiac arrest and was then taken off life support. He died shortly after, confirmed Doctor Ernesto Torres, the director of the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan.

Camacho’s mother, Maria Matias, said on Friday night that she had authorized removing him from life support after his three sons had arrived from the United States mainland and had a chance to see their father for the last time.

‘They managed to visit him before he died,’ said former pro boxer Victor ‘Luvi’ Callejas, a longtime friend who has been acting as a family spokesman in recent days.

‘The family are destroyed,’ Callejas said outside the hospital.

Doctors had declared Camacho brain dead on Thursday. Matias had said she decided it was time for doctors to disconnect life support over the objections of the boxer’s eldest son, Hector Jr, because there was no chance of recovery.

‘I lost my son three days ago. He’s alive only because of a machine,’ she said on Friday night. ‘My son is not alive. My son is only alive for the people who love him.’

Camacho was shot as he sat in a car with a friend, 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, who was killed in the attack.

Ashton Tyler | Elite.