Champ in 3 weight classes SuperfLy, Bantam & Featherweight. Crazy has hell, hellish life, but was a great asset IMO to the sport of boxing. Question(s) 1. Which division did he perform best at? 2. His least effective weight class was? 3. Was he a better boxer ? brawler? or combination boxer-puncher? 4. What s your favorite Tapia fight? 5. Your dream fight with Tapia would be against who?
I wanna say 115lbs. That may have been from his pre title days. Featherweight I would describe him as a boxer but he would brawl effectively. I never saw a fighter feed off the crowd like Johnny Tapia. Danny Romero Wilfredo Gomez
Tapia was one of my favorites from the start! Love his style in the mold of Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Shane Mosley. Johnny wore his ink in the day when most people, let along boxers, didn't sport tattoos. Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson would've been his toughest and biggest bout in my opinion. Not sure what the circumstances were but something blocked that bout from happening... And as ETM stated above, a SuperFight with Wilfredo Gomez would've been the proverbial barnburner.
Does anyone remember his early career, up to 1990, before the 3 and a half year layoff? He was on ESPN frequently and his numbers were incredible; the punch counters often had him landing over 70 percent of his punches. And he beat some good fighters including future bantam champ John Michael Johnson. In 2005 he fought a guy that was trained by my partner, in South Texas. I have heard some crazy stories about that event. A friend of mine met him years before that in Big Bear and said he was a very friendly guy. He introduced himself by telling my friend that he had witnessed his mother's murder. I always liked Tapia and watching him fight. Early on he was such a smooth, controlled boxer and I felt he did himself no favors by fighting more and getting emotional. Real nice double hook to the body and very good at getting into position to land it.
Great thread! Some excellent replies here. Tapia is a favorite of mine as well. I think his best weight was super fly...but he was also very good at bantamweight. Least effective weight was definitely 126 in my opinion. Meldrick Taylor is a comparison that comes to mind in that he and Tapia both were supremely gifted, well schooled boxers who loved to mix it up but would probably have been better off sticking to boxing rather than brawling. As for my favorite Tapia fight...man, that’s tough. I think the Romero fight is probably my favorite Tapia performance. But my favorite fight has to be the first (I think the first fight...it’s been a while) Ayala fight. Prototypical fight in a phone booth. No quarter given, back and forth battle. My all time Tapia dream fight? Hmmmm....I’ll go with Fighting Harada at 118. Fireworks guaranteed!
That's when I became a fan of his. Your right he was sharper then. I remember he switched to Southpaw in one fight and messed with his opponent by stepping back into his conventional stance and firing a lead right all in one motion. It was like a trick move but he did it so smooth. Something only a gym rat would even try. At the time I think he was at 115. Not sure. I was hoping eventually he could face Carbajal.
