BoxRec

Found dead in his bedroom by his wife apparently.

A legend has passed. He's taking his Mi Vida Loca to the big man in the sky. Hope he's ready.

A sad, sad loss.

fornicating hell, thats terrible news, may he rest in peace. He was an excellent fighter, you never expect a sportsman to die that young, even if did live a hard life.

It's no secret that Johnny had a lengthy battle with drug addiction and you couldn't help but feel it was only a matter of time before this sad news would break. He was one of the best lower weight boxers in the past 25 years and would give anyone a good, close fight. True warrior in the ring. R.I.P.

Rip, enjoyed watching him, believe he fought at York hall once

RIP Johnny.

A sad day for boxing

What a fighter. Rip.

RIP Johnny - spent time with him when he was over here for his fight at york hall, he trained in the Peacock a week before- nice guy

Unfortunately, it's not one of those headlines that comes as a complete shock as Deno said.
Great fighter and now the inevitable film on his life has a sad ending

RIP Champ.

A sad sad loss.

God Bless

I know that his fight against Paulie Ayala was a minor classic, but I'll always best remember his visit to Bethnal Green. The fans there really know their boxing and gave him a rapturous welcome that seemed to genuinely move him. After the fight, he spoke quite touchingly about the treatment he'd received in England and how the reception he got as he walked to the ring affected him. Brought a lump to my throat, it did -- and it does thinking about it now.

A genuinely nice guy, who struggled desperately with addiction, who was an advert for the benefits of boxing for young, troubled men (he would surely have passed many years earlier if not for boxing), and a great boxer whose life was brought to a premature close by drugs

I hope Johnny is resting in peace, because it seemed to me that he had precious little peace during his life.

i know this may sound strange but i think that death is actually a bit of a relief for him and his family. he was just so tormented. stated loads of times how he didnt want to live. very very sad story, his book (well worth a read) is just heart breaking. RIP.

RIP Champ

i was there at the York hall.... fantastic evening.

RIP Johnny Tapia

as said - he has been on a road to destruction for many many years.
Shame he could never find himself a peaceful life. Fighting was his only real focus.

Probably the best place for him to be. I read a few articles on him & he always reckoned that without his wife (Teresa I am pretty certain) he would have been dead years ago.
La vida loca eventually caught up with him.

RIP

RIP johnny

The inevitability of it doesn't lessen the sadness.

What a fighter. What a shame.

dondada wrote:The inevitability of it doesn't lessen the sadness.

What a fighter. What a shame.

X 2

RIP champ.

A legend. He'd have been one of the ATGs if he fought and trained clean.

One of the worst childhoods I've ever read about.

Perhaps my favourite boxer of all time.

Absolutely terrible news.

RIP Johnny.

Sad news

Nice piece on him here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MCPgk9n ... re=related

He was a troubled man. RIP

The weirdest thing has just happened to me.
As you know I started a thread headed boxing programmes.
I've been exchanging pms with a few of the lads one being JamesH.
On my list was a programme Johnny Tapia v Paul Ayala.
I got an E Mail from James saying he couldn't afford it now Johnny had passed.
I hadn't seen the news and tbh it went over my head.
When I realised what had happened I've got the programme out and he signed it on the front and he put "God bless you".
Well God bless you Johnny a truly inspirational character full of faults and flaws but in the ring, a great fighter.
RIP.

That is pretty spooky.

twenty six wrote:The weirdest thing has just happened to me.
As you know I started a thread headed boxing programmes.
I've been exchanging pms with a few of the lads one being JamesH.
On my list was a programme Johnny Tapia v Paul Ayala.
I got an E Mail from James saying he couldn't afford it now Johnny had passed.
I hadn't seen the news and tbh it went over my head.
When I realised what had happened I've got the programme out and he signed it on the front and he put "God bless you".
Well God bless you Johnny a truly inspirational character full of faults and flaws but in the ring, a great fighter.
RIP.

Hope the charity does very well out of it mate.

As for his childhood story, wow. Knew it was bad, but

RIP Johnny.

An absolute shock.... whilst his life was troubled - he'd survived so many major life setbacks and not only remained alive, but even won world titles in the hardest sport of all after. I always felt he was there was something almost invinsible for him to be alive this long, so shocked he has gone.

Absolutely tremendous, varied, boxer. He put a clinic on Romero..... one of my performances of the last twenty years that one.

Deno1986 wrote:It's no secret that Johnny had a lengthy battle with drug addiction and you couldn't help but feel it was only a matter of time before this sad news would break. He was one of the best lower weight boxers in the past 25 years and would give anyone a good, close fight. True warrior in the ring. R.I.P.

I heard he had cleaned up his act a number of years before his death though?

What was the cause of death in the end anyways?