5-time boxing champ Johnny Tapia found dead

Boxer Johnny Tapia just prior to his defeat of opponent Willy Salazar on December 1, 1995. / Al Bello/Allsport

(AP) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Johnny Tapia, the five-time boxing champion whose turbulent career was marked by cocaine addiction, alcohol, depression and run-ins with the law, was found dead Sunday at his Albuquerque home. He was 45.

Authorities were called to the house at about 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, spokesman Robert Gibbs said. The death didn't appear to be suspicious, he said.

Tapia won five championships in three weight classes, winning the WBA bantamweight title, the IBF and WBO junior bantamweight titles and the IBF featherweight belt.

He was regarded as the consummate underdog by his fans. The more trouble he found outside the ring — including several stints in jail — the more they rallied around him.

In a 1990s-era feud with fellow Albuquerque boxer and former world champion Danny Romero, Tapia's fans anointed him with the slang Spanish title of "Burque's Best."

But his life was also marked by tragedy. He was orphaned at 8, his mother stabbed 26 times with a screwdriver and left to die.

In 2007, he was hospitalized after an apparent cocaine overdose. Several days later, his brother-in-law and his nephew were killed in car accident on their way to Albuquerque to see the ailing boxer.

Tapia was banned from boxing for 3 1/2 years in the early '90s because of his cocaine addiction. But he knocked out Henry Martinez to win the WBO bantamweight title in 1994, and won four more championships over the next eight years.

He last fought in June, outpointing Mauricio Pastrana in an eight-round decision. He finished with a 59-5-2 record.

Gibbs said an autopsy will be performed in the next few days.

[Basta57]

Johnny was crazy in love with life - it was his life, his choice. He made us proud more times than he made us mad. The barrios of Wells Park, Saw Mill, Martineztown, Old Town and San Jose where he grew up and trained will miss our homeboy, but we all knew that sooner rather than later and right around the corner, his match would forever end. Can you see the light, cruisin' in your car, Johnny?

Rest in Peace, Champ. 'Burque's Best!

[Basta57]

Johnny was crazy in love with life - it was his life, his choice. He made us proud more times than he made us mad. The barrios of Wells Park, Saw Mill, Martineztown, Old Town and San Jose where he grew up and trained will miss our homeboy, but we all knew that sooner rather than later and right around the corner, his match would forever end. Can you see the light, cruisin' in your car, Johnny?

Rest in Peace, Champ. 'Burque's Best!

[ReckonedTruth]

What a SAD life.. recreational drugs, drugs, drugs.. you can't WIN.. EVER even if you stop doing drugs.. because the damage is already done to the body in most cases.. and WILL catch you much sooner than later..

[DC_Clark]

Duran had the hands of stone, Tapia had the head of stone...you couldn't hurt him even if you did he was still coming forward..RIP Johnny

[omnibus66]

If you like boxing, then you loved Johnny Tapia. He was all action, all the time, and was afraid of no one. However, living to a ripe old age is not a part of the boxing profession. We boxing fans will certainly miss him.

[bud28dy]

As a boxing fan I agree totally with you. The guy could totally kick a ss in the ring and was exiting to watch. Too bad he was far less successful in battling the other demons which plagued him all of his professional and post-pro life. Rest in peace buddy.

[audemus]

Rest in Peace Champ...

[cbsnews_viewer]

Last week it was reported that cocaine users have hearts twice the age of non-users - and the damage does not stop there*. That makes his medical age 90. No matter how hard you train, if your destroying your body, its counterproductive.

[Lerianis4]

Bull and those studies are KNOWN to have been manipulated in the past. They just are not credible in the slightest today.

[audemus]

I'm still amazed that they don't sell the stuff at health food stores nationwide.

[2happy2ride]

Funny how an industry predicated on violence, has the forthrightness to ban a member for life & the NFL & NBA honors them with millionaire status.
RIP Johnny.

[askagain]

Johnnt Tapia was plagued by misfortune. I quoted the following from Wickipedia. It appears that the source was HBO World Boxing

"Johnny Tapia's life began with tragedy. His father had reportedly been murdered while his mother was pregnant with him. When he was eight years old, his mother, Virginia, was kidnapped, raped, hanged, repeatedly stabbed, and left for dead by her assailant. Tapia was awakened by her screams and saw her chained to the back of a pickup truck. He tried to alert others in his household, but no one believed him. His mother was later found by the police and taken to the hospital after she had crawled 100 yards to a road. She died four days after the attack without regaining consciousness. Raised thereafter by his grandmother, Tapia turned to boxing at the age of nine."

Rest in Peace.