Two controversial defeats to Paulie Ayala introduced a new dimension to his experience as a professional, that of losing, and it didnt sit well with Tapia, who felt he was robbed in both fights. She is happy to be his side, observing and listening. KOB-TV reports representatives for Teresa Tapia confirmed Sunday that she married Johnny Tapia's half-brother, Jeffrey Padilla. Johnny Tapia was an American boxer, who competed in the super flyweight division. After three and a half years away from the ring, he returned to win five fights before defeating Henry Martinez to win the world super flyweight title (115-pound limit). At the end of the film he is at a local radio station, accompanying one of his young fighters to promote an upcoming card. The crazy life of Johnny Tapia - a five-time world champion boxer who once wrote that he had been "raised to fight to the death" - ended this week at age 45. Scores: 98-92, 96-94, 99-93. Data may be incomplete and inaccurate. An insightful and revealing documentary, Tapia shows both his darkness and his better nature as it presents a life thats too complex to judge. Johnnys cocaine habit has caused his heart to stop beating on five separate occasions, he has been in three comas, and he has been in and out of prison. Scores: 98-92, 96-94, 99-93. If you change your mind, go to Notifications in the menu to enable browser notifications. John Lee Anthony Tapia[2] (February 13, 1967 May 27, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. 2. He moved up in weight to win the 147-pound WBC welterweight title from Carlos Palomino on January 14, 1979, and finally won a third title when he added the 154-pound WBC light-middleweight title from Maurice Hope on May 23, 1981. And when Tapia was 8, his mother was kidnapped, raped and hanged. But without prizefighting, life for an impulsive, troubled, and angry young man on the New Mexican streets might have ended much sooner. Glen Tapia (born December 11, 1989) is an American professional boxer. His left jab was punishing, and he claimed not to mind being hit. The denial of any possibility to exact vengeance stung Johnny. One in particularwas his 1997 bout with fellow Albuquerquian Danny Romero. May he rest in peace. His past regularly came back to haunt him. Thats my queen.. He was 45. [17] Tapia died of heart failure. "A family member . On December 5, 1998, Tapia defeated WBA bantamweight champion Nana Konadu by decision to become a two-division world champion. Theres times when I look at him and I think to myself, I believe were going to grow old together, I believe were going to see our kids and our grandkids and were going to beat the odds. Later that year, Tapia tried to commit suicide with a drug overdose and required hospitalization. The striking advertisement for sobriety in this land of the wasted is Johnny Tapia, perhaps the most infamous substance-abusing boxer of all time. He sniffs twice and swallows the build up of tears that bubble beneath the surface. In his first title defense, Tapia defeated Jose Rafael Sosa by decision. His first pro fight was in 1988. Our attempts to imagine his emotional and psychological pain still leave us on the distant edge of Johnny Tapias reality. Get TMZ breaking news sent right to your browser. Five-time WBO world champion who had a record of 59-5-2. His 1999 loss by decision to Paulie Ayala was named the Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Not from a drug overdose, but from heart failure. John Lee Anthony Tapia was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. I want to hug my mama.. John Lee Anthony Tapia (February 13, 1967 - May 27, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. KOB-TV reports representatives for Teresa Tapia confirmed Sunday that she married Johnny Tapia's half-brother, Jeffrey Padilla. John Lee Tapia: sex: male alias: Mi Vida Loca: nationality: USA stance: orthodox: height: 5 6 / 168cm: reach: 65 / 165cm: residence: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA: birth place: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Updated I tried to find him, right before the Paulie Ayala fight. Johnny heard her screams as she was taken away, chained to a pickup truck, but his cries for help were ignored. CNN . I hurt, Im old, Im done, he says, almost poetically. My wife could have killed me, she could have turned off the machine, Johnny says, his voice quivering under the weight of shame. AboutPressCopyrightContact. Johnnylost again and this would be the final time he hovered close to boxings zenith. When he finally returned to the ring on March 27, 1994, he beat Jaime Olvera by a knockout in four rounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a standout, Golden Gloves-winning amateur career, Tapia turned pro. He won three more fights by knockout, and then he faced Oscar Aguilar on the Michael CarbajalJosu Camacho undercard in Phoenix for the NABF super flyweight title, winning in three rounds. The day after he was admitted, his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident on their way to visit him. Tapia was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today, as the giddy Vegas gamblers follow the hypnotic neon lights in search of making their fortune, Teresa is still hoping her marriage will hit the jackpot. His ring return has kept Tapia out of trouble since 2009 boxing was a condition of his release from prison but now he wants to retire. Birth place: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Ive got a good wife. He is easily distracted as we all sit together deep inside the mysterious green labyrinth that is the MGM Grand. The family lived in Albuquerque, NM.[13]. [15] After Tapia died in 2012, his widow briefly married his alleged half-brother, Jeffrey Padilla, in 2014. She got stabbed 22 times with an ice pick and raped, he told In This Corner With James Smith in a 2004 interview. On October 12, 1994 Johnny Tapia became the WBO super flyweight champion in a fight for the vacant title. In 1999, Tapia suffered his first loss in his 48-bout career, losing a decision and the WBA title to Paulie Ayala in what The Ring Magazine called its "Fight of the Year." Back quickly after that, he was given a shot at the WBO title. His life was marked by tragedy. This is perhaps the documentarys most poignant moment. Tapia won by a unanimous twelve-round decision, adding the IBF title to his WBO belt. Tapia's heart simply stopped beating and, unlike his previous brushes with death, this one was for real. Tapia's next bout, for the IBF featherweight title, was versus Manuel Medina. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. Isleta Resort & Casino, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. Convention Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. As a wife, as a woman, Ive learnt theres good and bad in everyone and you have to accept them. His 1999 loss by decision to Paulie Ayala was named the Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine.Tapia was inducted during 2017, posthumously, to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.Tapia was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Mexican American parents. Five days later the Albuquerque Police claimed they found cocaine after the fight in a bag carried by Tapia. Tapia never ran from his own darkness so much as he perpetually hovered over it. Johnny Tapia looks to get back into title contention following yet another disputed loss to Paulie Ayala, taking on Famosito Gomez in the main event of Showt. Highlights of Johnny Tapia's best combinations \u0026 knockouts.Johnny Tapia - Was an American professional boxer and a five-time world champion at super flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight. The indelible writing has always been on the wall for this twisted love story. No great fighter ever runs from the darkness that lies ahead of him, states narrator Liev Schrieber. A 21-year-old Tapia made his professional debut on March 28, 1988 against Efren Chavez. She was subsequently stabbed 22 times with a screwdriver, and left for dead. They were united by grief, welded with misery. Privacy. Tapia said he thought his tattoos of angels kept him from passing into the next world. The camera pans across the yellow landscape and settles on a solitary man, walking with his head down as though ruminating on a dark memory. Tapia, a five time world champion, might be one of the greatest television fighters ever, a distinction he shares with fellow 90s legend Arturo Gatti. The Albuquerque police said an autopsy would be done in the next few days. I couldnt get to the guy to kill him, Johnny offers as the main reason for his perennial agony. Hes like a walking contradiction, Teresa tells me while Johnny is out of earshot. His last fight was in June 2011. He said he saw every opponent as his mothers killer. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. He then knocked out former champion Rolando Bohol in the second round. But despite his early success, his life was anything but ordered, as he escaped the streets only when physically in the ring. He won 59 fights, 30 by knockout; lost 5; and drew 2. On May 27 of 2012, Johnny Tapia was found dead. He started boxing at age 9 to escape a troubled childhood. Scores: 98-92, 96-94, 99-93. He reached 45 before his. Its more natural to embrace it. The lone walker, probing the wilderness as though in search of existential meaning, is Johnny Tapia, who was born in Albuquerque but given his chance at life in the ring. He took the wedding cash and dumped her in a cheap hotel. Mi vida loca, or my crazy life, were the words tattooed on his belly. On February 11, 2009, Tapia was taken into custody in Albuquerque for a violation of parole related to cocaine use. I wanted to get him and stab him the same way he did my mom. Benitez first won the 140-pound WBA light-welterweight title from Antonio Cervantes on March 6, 1976, at the age of 17. In 2007 Johnny overdosed again and was taken to hospital where he lay in a coma. Tapia ruled down in round eleven. Tapia returned home to prepare for bouts in 2001, when he went up in weight and beat Famosito Gomez by a knockout in six, and former WBC featherweight champion Cesar Soto by knockout in three. Tapia's body is found at his home on Sunday night. Hes been like a freak of nature where hes never really taken any type of punishment in the ring where hes been hurt which has been a blessing, she says in her suitably angelic voice. Teresa reaches over and squeezes the hands that won four world titles in three divisions super-flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight. The widow of former world champion Johnny Tapia has remarried. [9], Tapia was found unconscious and not breathing in a hotel room early on the morning of March 12, 2007. He was still getting high and was now training under Freddie Roach (whose speech is demonstrably clearer in documentary footage than it is today). On the drive to visit him, his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident. I was so angry I thought I was going to stay in prison for life, but I ended up doing 23-hour lockdown [every day] for a whole year so I could get out.. Johnny Tapia was born in Albuquerque. When he was eight years old, his mother, Virginia, was kidnapped, raped, repeatedly stabbed, and left for dead by her assailant. When Johnny was only eight-years-old, his mother and only parent was raped and murdered at the age of 33, stabbed 22 times with an ice pick and left to die on the side of the road. In 2017 he won the Sam Kellerman Media Award in New York and The Reg Gutteridge Annual Award in London two years later. Boxer Johnny Tapia was found dead Sunday in New Mexico, this according to local police. She survives him, along with their three children. In 2002, Tapia traveled to London, where he knocked out Eduardo Enrique Alvarez in the first round; after the bout, he was interviewed by former rival Romero. After that, the fight with Romero was set for Las Vegas. None of it occurred on Teresas watch. After two more wins, he gave Willy Salazar a title shot, knocking him out in nine rounds. Boxing It is when she cant see him that she worries. The crazy life of Johnny Tapia a five-time world champion boxer who once wrote that he had been raised to fight to the death ended this week at age 45. He is so full of life and he has so much to give people and he really is a great person but at the flip of a switch he can turn around and be your worst nightmare.. Johnny Tapia made his professional debut in March 1988, so he has been a pro for 34 years. Tapia was admitted to the hospital in 2007 in critical condition from a cocaine OD. Co-caine. He hangs on the name of the white powder and sighs, remembering the dangerous euphoria that rushed through his body and infected his mind. His laughter is curly and instantly infectious. His life, which ended at just 45, was spent trying not to fall into the abyss. Thats the love of my life. In a statement, Teresa Tapia said she decided thatmarryingPadilla would be best for the children, for a continuation of their sense of family. 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