BoxRec

What do some of yous think of Johnny Tapia ?
Personally, I think that he was one of those misguided types,with unlimited potential.
He fought between Jr bantam(115),all the way to LW(135) in his last bout, which he won,against a formidable challenger, then he passed away , slightly less than a year later ,at the age of 45.

From what I've seen of Tapia,from videos,And Live,Yes,I Am That Old. Tapia was a one of a kind. A one in a million. I compare him,either rather strongly, or at least somewhat, to other likewise die-hard type crowd pleasing warriors and showman types.
Bobby Chacon,Mickey Ward,Arturo Gatti,Emmanuel Augustus Burton,and even somewhat in the realms of Prince Naseem Hamad. Yes, that may be a stretch or more,but if you're talking about comparing That Very Certain Specific Special Crowd Pleasing Fighting Spirit, then, comparing Tapia with Hamad Really isn't hardly much difference. They were Both Maniacally Spirited Crowd Pleasing types,that obviously wanted to put on a big-time Show,and just make the fans entertained and most of all, Happy to be there as a fan.

He was a great talent apart from being feather fisted. He put conviction into his punches, too. You’d think he was digging the guy pretty good, but he just didn’t have much behind them. Same as Kid Gavilan.

Otherwise his blessing and his curse was his impulsiveness. He was such an emotional fighter. Highly engaging to watch, but his reckless abandon gave his corner headaches. That willingness to go off script often made fights closer than they ought to have been.

That’s the other thing about him that most probably forget. He could really, really box when he maintained discipline.

I saw a video of him once jumping rope. He was amazing at that.