Tapia's death appeared inevitable

Johnny Tapia

KOB - Sunday night I heard the news longtime New Mexico boxing champ Johnny Tapia died.  I’ve covered Johnny Tapia’s career for the past decade and a half and news of his death was sad, but to anyone who knows his life, the ending to this story was unfortunately predictable. I don’t know if there’s anyone who had a tougher upbringing than Tapia.  When he was 8 years old, his mother was kidnapped, raped, hanged, repeatedly stabbed and died a couple days later.  To help fight that nightmare, Tapia turned to boxing.  Of his 58 professional wins, the one opponent he could never take down was his addiction to drugs.  Tapia lived like a guy who thought he had nine lives and wanted to use every last one of em.  He admitted to being dead several times from his drug use. He didn’t like being alone. Years ago Tapia once called me at work from a limousine because he just wanted someone to talk to.  I never found Johnny to refuse an interview or deny a fan of an autograph or picture.  Tapia was charismatic and a crowd favorite every time he stepped in the ring. Read More News New Mexico

Tapia's death appeared inevitable