'Macho' Camacho gets horse-drawn send-off in East Harlem

Hector "Macho" Camacho returned to the New York neighborhood he knew so well and was given a hero's send-off by the thousands of mourners who lined the East Harlem streets where he was raised.

The legendary boxer's casket was paraded through the same streets where he learned to fight in a white  horse-drawn carriage and was greeted by cheers of appreciation and tears of grief.

Camacho's procession was nothing less than the flamboyant fighter would have wanted.

The three-time champion's casket was draped in a Puerto Rican flag and and started its final trip in front of St. Cecelia's Catholic Church on East 106th Street, going up Fifth Avenue, across 116th street, back down Fifth Avenue and finally winding up back at the church.

People followed the procession and marched behind the vehicles carrying Camacho's mourning friends and family.

Overhead, people hung out windows waving Puerto Rican flags and chanted, "Macho. Macho" from behind police barricades.

"I love you guys," said the boxer's mother Maria Matias — the woman who had the heartbreaking task of authorizing doctors to remove her brain dead son from life support just a few days ago.  The 50-year-old Camacho was shot in the face outside a bar in his birthplace of Bavamon, Puerto Rico last week.  Three men are in custody for the shooting which left a friend of Camacho dead.

The line to get into the church by people wishing to pay their respects wound around the block.

"I fought hard to bring my son here, where he belongs," said Matias.  "He fought here, he was raised here and now he is being buried here.  Look at all the supporters here, it is amazing."

While Friday's farewell was a lovefest for the local hero, a farewell in Puerto Rico on Tuesday was disrupted by a woman who claimed to be Camacho's girlfriend and angered his sisters by lifting a veil in the open casket and kissing him.

On this day, it was all about the good memories of the popular fighter.

"They are telling me that Camacho is alive today.  His spirit is not dead,' said Matias.  "He is a champion. I will always carry him in my heart."

Hector 'Macho' Camacho's mother makes decision to take brain dead boxer off life support

Hector "Macho" Camacho will be taken off life support Saturday, his mother indicated Friday night.  The former world champion boxer, who was shot in the face last week, was pronounced clinically brain dead and is expected to be taken off the artificial respirator that keeps him alive — a decision opposed by his eldest son, Hector Camacho Jr..

The fighter's mother, Maria Matias, told the media waiting outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico hospital where the 50-year-old Camacho lay unconscious since being shot that she had decided doctors should remove life support, but only after three of his sons arrived in Puerto Rico early Saturday morning and had  a chance to see him one last time, according to The Associated Press.

"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," she added.

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. 

Another news conference was scheduled for Saturday morning at Centro Medico, the main trauma center for San Juan, when the family is expected to announce the final decision.

Camacho was shot as he sat in a car outside a bar with a friend, Adrian Mojica, who was killed in the shooting.  Police found nine small bags of cocaine in Mojica's pocket and an open bag in the car.  There have been no arrests.

The flamboyant former boxer held world titles in the super lightweight, light weight and junior welterweight divisions and ended his career with a record of 79-6-3.  Camacho's most memorable fights included high profile bouts against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and a fifth-round knockout of Sugar Ray Leonard in 1997.