By Frank Warren
When I heard the sad news on Monday that Johnny Tapia had died I would have said that I was shocked, but if you knew his life story then tragedy was always around the corner. Tapia, a three-weight five-time world champion, was found dead inside his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last Sunday with police saying foul play is not suspected and are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results.
His tragic life is well documented but is still shocking to read. Born on Friday 13th in February 1967, he believed that his father had been murdered before he was born until in turned up 2010 after being released from prison; when he was 7 he was on a bus with a pregnant women next to him when the bus went over a cliff and fell 100ft, she was killed; a year later he saw his mother brutally murdered; he was declared clinically dead four times from drug overdoses; and several stints in jail while battling drug addiction for decades.
He said, "Four times I was declared dead. Four times they wanted to pull life support. And many more times I came close to dying. But I have lived and had it all. I have been wealthy and lost it all. I have been famous and infamous. Five times I was a world champion. You tell me. Am I lucky or unlucky?"
As a boy he was locked in a room and forced to fight older and bigger men for money by his uncles and in his autobiography said he was “raised as a pit bull. Raised to fight to the death.”
Despite being banned from boxing for 3 1/2 years in the early 1990s because of his cocaine addiction, Tapia, who’s nickname “Mi Vida Loca” (My Crazy Life) was tattooed on his stomach, was one of the elite fighters in the late 90s and early 2000s and excited fans with his all-action, fast hands and flashy combination punches to win world titles in the super-flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
He fought his great cross-town rival Danny Romero Jr in 1997, defeating him on a unanimous 12 round decision and unified the IBF and WBO super-flyweight titles in a vicious fight but they were friends outside the ring. Romero said, "Its very very sad and I’m at a loss for words, I’m still in shock of him being gone."
Teresa, his devoted long suffering wife who he has three daughters with, was his rock and eventually took over as his manager. She had her own tragedy to deal with when her brother and nephew were both killed in a car crash on their way to see Tapia in hospital after one of his cocaine overdoses.
I promoted Tapia for two fights in early 2000 and found him to be an engaging jack in the box who couldn’t sit still. I secured him one of his world titles when he beat Jorge Eliecer Julio for the WBO Bantamweight belt as well as his defence against Pedro Javier Torres - which at the time was the highest grossing sporting event in the history of New Mexico
- with both fights taking place in his hometown on my promotions.
Because he was such a big hero in Albuquerque, the local police asked him to launch a Guns for Tickets scheme where people turned in firearms and received a pair of tickets for fight against Torres without officers asking any questions. A total of 386 guns were taken off the streets, 3000 rounds of ammo, 1 blasting cap, 1 gas grenade, 6 rounds of black powder. I later ran a similar and successful scheme in Manchester with Ricky Hatton ahead of one of his world title defences.
I also have great memories of promoting an amazing night at London’s home of boxing the York Hall, Bethnal Green, in 2002 when I added Tapia to the bill which was televised by the American TV Network Showtime and the Yanks loved it.
York Hall was packed to the rafters that night and there were queues of people stretching out onto the surrounding streets wanting to get in. He got the most emotional and fabulous reception from the fans and he felt the love.
In a 66 fight career over 23 years he won 59, lost 5 and drew 2 with 30 knockouts and was only knocked down twice - in his second fight and final bout in June last year - he faced some of the best around including Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Ayala, Manuel Medina and Romero.
He was more surprised than anyone when he reached 45 as he said he expected to be dead before 40.
Recently he said he had been sober for three years and was interviewing fighters for Showtime before their fights.
On his night he was a great fighter. Boxing was good for him and gave him direction. Itseems without boxing he just couldn’t cope with life.
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Congratulations to Carl Froch who got his tactics spot on against Lucian Bute and did a fantastic job last Saturday in Nottingham to win the IBF World Super-Middleweight title - his third world title.
Although Froch’s moment could have been wrecked by his promoter Eddie Hearn who stormed into the ring to celebrate thinking that the referee had waved the fight off in the fifth round when really he was giving an eight-count.
That is a disqualification under IBF rules, but the referee didn’t see Fast Eddie - he was lucky that Bute’s management didn’t go to the rule book. But Bute in no position to continue it was finally waved off. It was a great win for Froch.
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Also last Sunday, Paul Williams, former WBO World Welterweight Champion and Interim WBO Light-Middleweight Champion, was left paralyzed from the waist down after severing his spinal cord in a motorbike crash.
Williams was due to fight Mexican star Saul Alvarez on September 15 in Las Vegas, but the biggest fight Williams will have now is ahead of him as aims to defy doctors who says he will never walk again.
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The light-heavyweight division is livening up again with Mikkel Kessler stepping up to win his first fight in the division a couple of weeks ago and IBF Champion Tavoris Cloud defending against Jean Pascal on August 11.
A possible bout between WBC Champion Chad Dawson and Andre Ware, who holds the WBA and WBC super-middleweight titles, could happen in September and unbeaten Welshman Nathan Cleverly will be out soon defending his WBO World title.
