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Tapia in critical condition

Police say former boxing champ hospitalized after overdose

By Michael Gisick
Originally published 12:23 p.m., March 12, 2007
Updated 03:41 p.m., March 12, 2007

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UPDATE: Johnny Tapia is in critical condition, according to a statement released at 4:30 this afternoon by Presbyterian Hospital. "This is a difficult time for the family. They greatly appreciate the many prayers and heartfelt wishes from the public," the hospital statement said.

Boxing legend Johnny Tapia was unconscious at an Albuquerque hospital this morning after apparently overdosing on cocaine in a hotel room, police said.

Tapia's wife, Teresa Tapia, called police at about 4:30 a.m. from the Country Inn and Suites on Pan American Freeway Northeast and said Tapia was having trouble breathing, police said.

Firefighters found the former world champ unconscious. He was taken to Presbyterian Hospital, where he was still unconscious at 10:30 this morning, Albuquerque police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said.

"We're hoping he's going to pull through," she said.

Hoffman said police found a plastic bag containing a white substance in Tapia's hotel room. The substance tested positive for cocaine, and Tapia will face charges of drug possession, she said.

Tapia, 40, eked out a majority decision win Feb. 23 in what he tentatively described as his last fight.

A five-time world champ with a 56-5-2 record, Tapia has faced plenty of battles outside the ring as well.

He spent six months in rehab in 2003 after collapsing in his home and was hospitalized later that year after police said he overdosed on pills.

He also tested positive for cocaine in 1990 and took a three-year hiatus from boxing as he battled drugs and clashed with the law. He returned to the ring on March 27, 1994.

But before his last fight, Tapia said those problems were behind him. A sellout crowd packed the Isleta Casino to watch Tapia stage a game if marginally effective last stand, and many hoped he would fight again.

In a pre-fight interview, Tapia told The Tribune he was focused on his future and his three sons.

"Everyone knows my troubles, but I've got God's blessings, and he has given me so much," Tapia said.

"Everything that happened has brought me here, and I have it good now. But I never thought I would make it to 40."

Tapia's life has been a path of turmoil almost from the beginning.

He was raised by his grandparents and other family members on Seventh Street Northwest in the Wells Park neighborhood.

Tapia's mother died when he was an 8. Virginia Tapia Gallegos died on May 28, 1975, after a five-day struggle to survive 33 stab wounds. Tapia did not know his father.

He began fighting as an amateur at age 11. He won two national Golden Gloves titles before turning pro in 1988.

Tapia has said he became a drug user in the early 1990s. He has been arrested numerous times and was jailed once for 45 days for repeated DWIs.

A cousin of Tapia, Steven Tapia, once told The Tribune: "It was like Johnny was on a mission of destruction."

Tapia pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife with a pistol on June 7, 1995. He was placed on probation.

In June of 2000, Tapia was admitted to a Las Vegas, Nev., hospital battling a bout of depression.