Johnny Tapia found dead

[Sofargone]

What a trainwreck Tapia turned into. The only thing that is surprising is that it took this long before he died.

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/stor...-report-052712


Troubled five-time world boxing champion Johnny Tapia was found dead in his Albuquerque home Sunday night, aged 45, police told KOB-TV.

Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Robert Gibbs said officers were called to Tapia's house about 7:45pm after a family member found a body there, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Gibbs said the death did not appear suspicious and that an official cause of death would be determined following an autopsy.

Throughout his controversial career, which included a nearly four-year suspension for testing positive to cocaine, Tapia won the WBO and IBF super flyweight titles, was WBA and WBO bantamweight champion and the IBF featherweight champion. He had a career record of 58-5-2, with 30 knockouts.

Tapia had a history of drug problems. He was hospitalized in critical condition from an apparent cocaine overdose in March, 2007, was jailed in 2009 for a violation of parole related to cocaine use and returned to prison in 2010 after failing a drug test.

[dogofwar]

Tapia battled a lot demons for a lot of years, he had a rough life. Shame that one of boxing's most charismatic figures ends like this.

Its a shame that the little guys didn't get the attention like they do now because Tapia had some fantastic fights and was always a crowd pleaser.

RIP

[Ash]

I thought he'd shot himself years ago, but that must be someone else I was thinking of.

[Sofargone]

Maybe you were thinking of Alexis Arguello.

[Sofargone]

Tapia battled a lot demons for a lot of years, he had a rough life. Shame that one of boxing's most charismatic figures ends like this.

Its a shame that the little guys didn't get the attention like they do now because Tapia had some fantastic fights and was always a crowd pleaser.

RIP

Alot of demons he did have, that's for sure. I watched many of his fights and they were always really entertaining to watch especially his fight with with Danny Romero and the two fights with Paulie Ayala. He has over the years had more than a few entertaining interviews on Jim Rome's radio show.

[Cbear]

Man, what a bad time for boxing. Rip.

[Shamrocked]

A real warrior in the ring and a troubled soul outside of it. May you find the peace in death that you never could in life brother.

[MikesHeath]

Was he the guy on which there was a featured film related to boxing?
If not why athletes are so addicted to cocaine.

[Ash]

Because cocaine is awesome but it's expensive.