Jake Schoellkopf/Associated Press

Five-time world boxing champion Johnny Tapia had a quiet moment in an Albuquerque hotel several weeks before his final fight, a Feb. 23 against last-minute replacement Evaristo Primero. Today, the slugger from Wells Park is in serious condition in Presbyterian Hospital in what Albuquerque police say was an apparent cocaine overdose early Monday.

Video

Former five-time world champion boxer Johnny Tapia steps into the ring Friday night February 23, 2007 at the Isleta Casino and Resort. He says it's his last fight, but many doubt him. View this video about the New Mexico legend and decide for yourself. Watch »

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A prayer for Johnny Tapia should be easy to produce. It should be tucked away with all those things we know we will use over and over again.

It's like boxed Christmas ornaments or a winter sweater.

This isn't an attempt to make light of Tapia's current condition. The former five-time world boxing champ was upgraded to serious condition today at Presbyterian Hospital, spokes man Todd Sandman said.

Tapia was taken to the hospital Monday in critical condition after he was found unconscious in an Albuquerque hotel room, the victim of an apparent cocaine overdose. Albuquerque police say he will be charged with drug possession.

Tapia, 40, once called cocaine his only mistress. It appears he is fooling around again.

Of course, we wish Tapia well. We hope he recovers. We hope he can somehow manage to get his life straight and maybe that is what we really need to pray for.

Because Tapia needs to quit hurting the people around him.

We also believe this: The prayers will come out again and eventually they won't be answered.

Not if Johnny Tapia doesn't change. Not if the selfish - once self-proclaimed "cholo" - doesn't somehow see that his life has been blessed with a wife and three kids and those things are much more meaningful than snorting something up your nose.

Cocaine is a false high, a quick tease, a few hours of feel-good time.

A family can be a lifelong blessing.

Tapia's current fall is no surprise, nothing new. It is a pattern in his life, part of the puzzle that makes Tapia what he is. His criminal record is almost as long as his ring record.

He has been busted for drugs and DWIs. He has fought depression. He has overdosed before. He pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife, Teresa Tapia, with a pistol in June 1995. He claims he has been clinically dead at least six times.

Tapia is a product of the Wells Parks neighborhood of northwest Albuquerque. He was raised by his grandparents and other family members from the age of 8 after his mother died on May 28, 1975, after a five-day struggle to survive 33 stab wounds.

Tapia said that when he was a kid his uncles would make him fight older boys. If he won, he got a buck. If he lost, he got beat.

As a teenager, Tapia said, he would deck himself out in baggy khaki pants, a white muscle shirt covered with a flannel shirt and he would wrap a red bandanna around his neck. He also wore a tough-guy sneer.

"I didn't take any trouble," Tapia once told The Tribune. "You give me a look, I give one back."

Tapia, almost like a kid trying to dodge trouble, always seems to know the right words to toss out at the right times.

He would tell us that his life is together and he has no problems. He would thank God for his blessings. He would say he's a changed man.

He told us that a few days before his last fight on Feb. 23 at Isleta Casino.

But Tapia is still a mess and probably still an addict. Most people who become messes mess up the lives of the people around them who deserve better.

Tapia has three kids. Their names are tattooed on his body. They are 15, 7 and the little one turns 2 this month.

His kids deserve better than looking at a dad with tubes shooting into his body because he might have shot something up his nose.

Last month, Tapia told The Trib: "If I had to do it all over again, I would do it all over again. I wouldn't change anything. Nothing. Everything that happened has brought me here. But I never thought I would make it to 40."

Tapia made it to 40. Maybe he'll make it to 41. Maybe not.

We'll keep the prayers tucked away.