I think he was a good fighter, not necessarily an ATG. He realistically had no business at featherweight, but he showed a lot of dimension to his game when it was all said and done. He wasnt just a brawler with fast hands, he could put it together and box pretty well when he wanted to. He just had no real power, but he made up for that with speed and a lot of activity. I was never a big fan of Tapia's, he just couldnt crack an egg, but I give the man props for his accomplishments. I believe he was supposed to fight recently, but got arrested again?
Very good talented, though not great technical boxer.traded a lot on athleticism and his very goodspeed, instead of fighting the smart fight.Nice variety of punches and a top jab, no real power.was a better textbook fighter in his earlier years imo, as he got increasingly manic and became a bit of a caricature of himself as his career went on. Definitely one of the top super flyweights, but above that his fights with the barely above ordinary volume puncherAyala(even if you think he won them)hurt him a lot.Ordinary at best, washed up Feather.He would give a lot of fighters fits at when right at the lighter weights though.
undeniably the top fighter of his era. looked fantastic in dominating cross town rival Danny Romero. Was in control of the fight & he knew it! Sadly was robbed shortly thereafter against Paulie Ayala. Beat Ayala even more convincingly in the rematch, but was robbed again in an even worse decision! Was done by the time he fought Barrera.
Johnny Tapia, God bless him and his troubled life..he was just BRILLIANT against Romero...he was fantastic that night...he lost his way so many times, but when he was on, he was really on.
I remember watching his only stoppage loss against power punching journeyman Sandro Marcos. Marcos had him against the ropes and ripped a shot to the body. Tapia went down and was very adamant he was hit in the balls. Not sure if he was, but he was counted out. :huh
Should have fought Too Sharp and if he won that fight clearly and convincingly then he might have a slight argument for being called great. As it stands, he's not in the discussion of being called a great. Clearly distinguishing himself from Ayala would have helped too, but really, I think he was already past his best days by the time those fights occurred.
I only saw that once, but I remembered it as being a clean body blow. Tapia was well beyond shot at that time, and really had no business being up around featherweight to begin with. That was a pretty sad sight to see.
Johnny Tapia was a helluva fighter at one time, not an ATG, but a very, very, good fighter, though I couldn't see him beating someone like Jeff Chandler at Bantamweight.
