Ex-Boxing Champ Hector Camacho Shot In Face

Three-times boxing world champion Hector "Macho" Camacho could be left paralysed after he was shot in the face while sitting in a car.

Another man died in the attack after at least one gunman opened fire on the vehicle in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon, according to a statement from police.

Camacho, 50, was taken to San Juan's Centro Medico trauma centre, where he was in critical but stable condition and expected to survive, said Dr Ernesto Torres.

The bullet apparently struck him in the jaw, but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder, fracturing two vertebrae.

Dr Torres said Camacho, who was plagued by drug and alcohol problems during his career, could be paralysed after the shooting.

He said: "Camacho's condition is extremely delicate. His physical condition will help him, but we will see."

No arrests have been made in the shooting.

Camacho's spokesman Steve Tannenbaum said he was told by friends at the hospital that the boxer would make it.

He said: "This guy is a cat with nine lives. He's been through so much - if anybody can pull through, it will be him."

The fighter's last title bout came against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997, when he lost on a unanimous decision.

Mr Tannenbaum said Camacho was going to fight two years ago in Denmark until his opponent pulled out - but they were looking at a possible bout in 2013.

"We were talking comeback even though he is 50 - I felt he was capable of it."

Camacho was born in Bayamon, one of the cities that make up the San Juan metropolitan area. He won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.

He fought high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard, whose career he ended with a 1997 knockout.

Camacho had a career record of 79-5-3, with his most recent fight coming in 2009.

He has battled drug, alcohol and other problems since the prime of his boxing career and 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 served two weeks in jail after violating his probation conditions.

His wife filed domestic abuse complaints against him twice and filed for divorce several years ago.