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Tapia `not out of woods yet'
Boxer's condition upgraded; relatives killed in accident
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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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Teresa Tapia, the wife and manager of Albuquerque boxer Johnny Tapia, said today her husband is "doing better but is not out of the woods yet," and remains in intensive care at Presbyterian Hospital as he recovers from an apparent cocaine overdose.
"The doctors tell me he seems to be getting better but he's not completely back to where he once was," Teresa Tapia said in a telephone interview from the hospital.
"He's still in ICU. We still don't know what's going to happen with him."
For Teresa Tapia, it has been an emotionally trying week of events. In another tragic turn, the Tapia family is mourning the death of two relatives who were traveling from northwestern New Mexico to see the ailing boxer.
State police said Tapia's brother-in-law, 39-year-old Robert Gutierrez, was killed along with his 23-year-old nephew, Ben Garcia, between 2 and 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when the 1990 Saturn they were in went off a highway about 50 miles south of Bloomfield and rolled, ejecting both men.
A school bus driver found Gutierrez and Garcia in a field near an elementary school.
Teresa Tapia said her husband didn't know about the accident because he has been in and out of consciousness. She expressed concern about how he would react once he found out.
"I can't even tell you how I'm coping," Teresa Tapia said. "It's just too much stuff happening at once.
"I'm worried about telling Johnny, how he's going to take the news. . . . We're just trying to get him strong enough . . . so we can let him know about this other tragedy."
Tapia's condition was upgraded today from serious to fair condition, according to a hospital spokesman.
Tapia, who turned 40 last month, was taken Monday to Presbyterian Hospital after paramedics responded to an early morning call about someone who wasn't breathing at a hotel room.
Teresa Tapia's 911 call on Monday reveals that her husband had been missing for four days before he showed up at their Albuquerque hotel room. Here are some excerpts from the 911 call:
911 Operator: This is 911 operator 96, what is your emergency?
Caller: Hi, I need to see if I can get an ambulance over to the hotel. I'm here from out of town and I think my husband is overdosed on something.
911 Operator: Like on drugs, or . . .
Caller: I don't know. . . . We came to Albuquerque on Wednesday. He disappeared on me on Thursday and he just showed up earlier tonight. . . . His eyes are like, his pupils are really small, I can't get him up and I'm trying to sit him up. I'm pulling on him, I put water on him, I've tried everything and I can't . . .
Officer Trish Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said it appeared to be an overdose and that Tapia would be charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Police discovered a plastic bag containing a white substance. Hoffman said tests confirmed it was cocaine.
Tapia has a history of cocaine use and run-ins with the law.
The latest episode came some two weeks after he won a majority decision over Evaristo Primero of El Paso. Tapia, whose record is 56-5-2, billed that fight as his farewell to the ring.
Tapia has won five titles in three weight classes, winning the WBA bantamweight title, the IBF and WBO junior bantamweight titles and the IBF featherweight belt.
State Police Lt. Rick Anglada said the accident involving Tapia's relatives happened on U.S. 550.
"They went off the road and overcorrected to the left and skidded across all the lanes of traffic and went off the road and began to overturn," Anglada said, noting that the vehicle vaulted over a fence and down an embankment.
Anglada said neither man was wearing a seat belt and alcohol may have been a factor. Investigators found empty bottles and partially consumed bottles at the scene; they were awaiting toxicology test results on both men.
Because Gutierrez and Garcia were ejected, Anglada said investigators were trying to determine who was driving.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
