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Thursday, February 12, 2009
Latest Tapia Arrest Involves Cocaine
By Rick Wright
Journal Staff Writer
Five-time world boxing champion Johnny Tapia may be forced to spend his 43rd birthday in jail after his arrest Tuesday for an alleged probation violation involving use of cocaine.
Tapia, who will turn 43 on Friday, is being held without bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center until the Albuquerque native appears before a judge. As of Wednesday, no date for that hearing had been set.
Tapia was sentenced to probation last April after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a near-fatal cocaine overdose the previous month.
Efforts by the Journal to reach Tapia's wife and manager, Teresa Tapia, for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
According to a Corrections Department spokeswoman, an unidentified third party called Tapia's probation officer to say the former boxer was using cocaine. The probation officer contacted Tapia, who admitted to the offense. He was arrested at his northwest Albuquerque home Tuesday afternoon.
It was not clear whether additional charges might be filed as a result of Tapia's alleged cocaine use.
Tapia, a two-time Golden Gloves national amateur champion as a teenager, has a 56-5-2 record as a professional. He won his first professional title at the Pit in 1994, defeating Henry Martinez for the WBO super flyweight (115-pound) title. In 1997, he added the IBF version of the super flyweight crown by defeating Albuquerque arch-rival Danny Romero in Las Vegas, Nev. Later, he won two world title belts at 118 pounds and one at 122. He's considered by many to be a shoo-in as an eventual International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.
Tapia announced his retirement from the ring in February 2007, scoring a shaky majority decision over Mexico's Evaristo Primero in what was billed as his last fight. He was to come out of that short-lived retirement last May to fight in El Paso, but pulled out of that bout hours before it was to be staged. Teresa Tapia cited a contractual dispute with the promoter of the El Paso card, but it was reported elsewhere that Tapia simply decided not to fight.
Tapia's involvement with cocaine dates at least to 1990, when he was suspended from the ring for 3 1/2 years after a positive post-fight drug test. He has admitted to repeated struggles with cocaine in the ensuing years. In July 1994, after resuming his boxing career, he was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell soap as crack cocaine to an off-duty police officer. The charges were dropped.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2000, Tapia has talked of suicide and was hospitalized at least twice for treatment of depression.
In March 2007, less than three weeks after Tapia's “retirement fight” against Primero, paramedics responded to a pre-dawn 911 call from Teresa Tapia. A comatose Johnny Tapia was taken from a Northeast Heights hotel to Presbyterian Hospital and listed in critical condition, but recovered and left the hospital three days later. In the Tapias' hotel room, police found a powdery substance later determined to be cocaine.
Last April, after determining that Tapia had completed a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program, State District Judge Kenneth Martinez sentenced him to 18 months probation less the 110 days he'd spent in rehab.
“I'm happy today, I'm clean today and I'm fighting (in El Paso) next week,” Tapia said outside the courtroom that afternoon.
Three days later, though, at a news conference held to promote the El Paso fight that never happened, Tapia talked about the power of his addiction.
“You're only a drink away from being a drunk,” he said. “You're only a snort away from being an addict.
“I'm tired of being on that pattern, but it's hard.”
Staff writer Hailey Heinz contributed to this report.
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