Johnny Lee Anthony "Johnny" Tapia (February 13, 1967 to May 27, 2012) was a Mexican-American professional boxer and a five time world champion at super flyweight, bantam weight and featherweight.

Background

Tapia was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father had reportedly been murdered while his mother was pregnant with him. When he was eight years old, his mother, Virginia, was kidnapped, raped, hanged, repeatedly stabbed, and left for dead by her assailant. Tapia was awakened by her screams and saw her chained to the back of a pickup truck. He tried to alert others in his household, but no one believed him. His mother was later found by the police and taken to the hospital after she had crawled 100 yards to a road. She died four days after the attack without regaining consciousness. Raised thereafter by his grandmother, Tapia turned to boxing at the age of nine.

Amateur career

Tapia had an outstanding amateur career, winning the 1983 and 1985 National Golden Gloves tournaments at light flyweight and flyweight, respectively.

Professional career

Super-flyweight

Early years

Tapia's professional boxing career began on March 25, 1988, when he fought Effren Chavez in Irvine, California. After four rounds of boxing the fight was called a draw. He won eight fights that year, five by knockout, of which four were in the first round. In 1989, he won seven more fights, including a first round knockout of Abner Barajas and an eight round decision against John Michael Johnson.

In 1990, he won seven bouts, including an eight round decision over Jesus Chong, and eleventh round technical knockout of Roland Gomez in Reno that gave him the USBA super flyweight title, and a twelve round decision over Luigi Camputaro, to retain that tile. Tapia was, by the end of the year, a known boxer, his name often appearing in magazine articles. However, his career came to a halt for the next three and a half years after being suspended from boxing for testing positive for cocaine.

Tapia vs Ayala I

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." Later that year, Tapia tried to commit suicide with a drug overdose and required hospitalization. Back quickly after that, he was given a shot at the WBO title. He became a two time world bantamweight champion by beating Jorge Eliecer Julio by a decision at Albuquerque on January 8, 2000. After he defended his belt with a decision over Javier Torres, a rematch with Ayala to unify the belt was set up. Ayala won by unanimous decision in a fight that ring observers largely felt Tapia won; following the fight, Showtime commentators said that Tapia "put on a clinic" and "something's not right," nearly labeling the decision as rigged.

Tapia vs Ayala II

On October 7, 2000, Ayala and Tapia met in a rematch for the vacant IBA featherweight title, at a catchweight of 124 lbs. As with the first fight, this took place on Showtime. Due to Tapia being unable to make the bantamweight limit, Ayala's WBA bantamweight title was not at stake. Ayala defeated Tapia once again by a twelve round unanimous decision, a result which was seen as controversial.