Three-time world boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho died yesterday, four days after he was shot in the face in a drive-by shooting, doctors said. He was 50.

Camacho was pronounced dead after being taken off life support following a second heart attack yesterday, Rio Piedras Medical Director Ernesto Torres said.

The former US boxing champ had been declared brain dead on Thursday after he was shot on Tuesday while sitting in a car with a friend, Adrian Mojica Moreno, 49.

Two gunmen opened fire on the car, killing the driver, Mojica Moreno, and hitting Camacho in the jaw. The bullet fractured two vertebrae and lodged in his shoulder, damaging the arteries that carried blood to the brain, doctors said.

Police found nine small bags of cocaine in the driver’s pockets and one open in the car.

The shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Camacho, a left-handed fighter who grew up in New York’s Spanish Harlem neighbourhood, had a record of 79-6-3 with 38 knockouts. His three-decade career featured fights with a “who’s who” of boxing and a flamboyant style that included entering the ring in an outfit based on the Puerto Rican flag.

Camacho’s body was taken to the hospital’s pathology section and brought to the Institute of Forensic Sciences as required by law, Torres told reporters.

El Nuevo Dia newspaper reported the family planned a funeral in New York, where Camacho grew up.

Family members had debated removing him from life support, with some members including his son Hector “Machito” Camacho holding out hope for his recovery.