Who is johnny tapia

Undefeated and only years-old, the drug was his undoing when he tested positive in June of and then did so again several more times in the ensuing months. Tapia was banned from boxing for three years and he describes his suspension as one of the lowest times in his life.

To make money he sometimes participated in underground fights at a local bar, where apparently the only prohibited weapon was a gun. Fortunately, he was allowed to resume his career in Tapia had recently wed Teresa Chavez, who would exercise a calming and supportive influence in his life, and wins came quickly for the newly married man.

The camera switches from footage of his euphoric celebration to that of a shirtless, paunchy Tapia, sitting in a shabby room where he watches the replay as a grizzled year-old. While the Martinez title-winning fight might be his greatest moment, there were other notable wins.

One in particular was his bout with fellow Albuquerquian Danny Romero. The two had circled each other for years and when they finally met at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas an extraordinary police presence was required because of the fear that violence would erupt between gang members. In a performance that summoned all of his skill, showmanship and gall, Tapia outfought and outlasted Romero and won a unanimous decision.

He was still getting high and was now training under Freddie Roach whose speech is demonstrably clearer in documentary footage than it is today.

Using DNA evidence, investigators solved the crime, pinning it on the last man to have been seen with her. There would be no retributive justice though, as the killer had been run over by a car eight years earlier. The denial of any possibility to exact vengeance stung Johnny. Nobody puts their hands on my mama. Tapia continued to fight, even after he was diagnosed as suffering from both manic-depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but boxing had ceased to be a reliable refuge.

But he went on with his career and was paid two million dollars to face legendary champion Marco Antonio Barrera in He experienced frequent relapses over the next few years and several overdoses. It is said he was declared clinically dead five times in his life, a life that was ceaselessly, stubbornly, incurably difficult.

Tapia went to jail, struggled with depression, and attempted suicide. And there will be plenty of people, which he loved, too. His whole life was about people. It was a life that started without the most important person, his father, who was killed before he was born. At the age of eight he watched as his mother was stabbed 26 times with a screwdriver and left to die. Raised to fight to the death," Tapia wrote in his autobiography "Mi Vida Loca. Four times they wanted to pull life support.

And many more times I came close to dying. One of those times was on his wedding night, when Teresa found him overdosed in the bathroom, a needle in his arm. Tapia battled drugs and he battled alcohol, but never had the winning record against them that he had in the ring. His life wasn't just crazy, it was tragic. In he was hospitalized with a cocaine overdose, and his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident on their way to Albuquerque to see him.

A stint in prison cost him four years of his boxing career. A suspension for cocaine use cost him three more. At age eight he witnessed the kidnapping of his own mother. She was tied up and taken away by a man. She was raped, and her body found next to a road a few days later. Tapia had problems dealing with that and started using drugs when he was a teenager. But he also started a career in boxing, and became an Olympic hopeful.

While he was still addicted to drugs, Tapia built a record of wins and 12 losses as an amateur. His professional career began on March 28, , when he beat Efren Chavez by a knockout in round four in Irvine, California. He won eight fights that year, five by knockout, of which four were in the first round. But his career took an enormous step backwards when he was found with drugs, and this time he was suspended from boxing for three years.

He had to start over from scratch when he was finally able to return in Tapia became a world champion in his own hometown by defeating Sosa on a twelve round decision. He retained the title with a knockout in eight rounds of Ricardo Vargas and a decision in twelve against former amateur nemesis Arthur Johnson.

After two more wins, he gave Willy Salazar a title shot, knocking him out in nine rounds. In , Tapia suffered his first loss, losing a twelve round decision and the WBA world title belt to Paulie Ayala in what Ring Magazine called its fight of the year. That year also, he tried to commit suicide with a drug overdose, and required hospitalization.