Johnny Tapia Appreciation Thread

Possessed practically everything outside of one punch power. A very impressive fighter, indeed.

 

Very true, brother Ox.

 

To be honest, I never saw that much of Tapia. In time, I will amend that.
He did impress the hell out of me not so much in terms of skill, but heart and will, in his fight with Barrera, where he got the **** kicked out of him but was game to the end.

He was even upbeat in the post-fight interview, where it looked like a train had run over his face. Crazy dude, who lived a crazy life.

 

I have my doubts on consider him an ATG.....maybe he is.....
Good body puncher, good uppercut, great chin......Like BE said, he was a good boxer when he wanted to......
I personally rate him between the best SuperFlyweights....At BW I´m one of the few who scored the fights against Ayala to Ayala, two close fights but I gave it to Ayala both times.....His performance against Konadu at BW was good.....

 

Loved his left hook to the body. In response to the Konadu fight, that's probably my favourite performance of his. Really showed off his skills and boxing guile.

 

It's funny looking back at his early fights where he was a no-nonsense, disciplined technician.
He became more of a devil may care flashy showboat more interested in just having a good time in the ring, rather than fighting the right kind of tactical bout to take advantage of his skills, but was all the more entertaining for it.

Ayala wasn't nearly as naturally talented, even at that stage in Tapia's career where he was slowing down a bit, he just wanted it more and was allowed to make things close enough to be debatable.

 

:happy

I been appreciating Johnny since the time Prince always wants to party like it is (which, incidentally, he's been doing since before I was even born)

 

I also don't think it's a very controversial statement on Freddie's part to say that Johnny and James were the pupils he came across with the most raw talent, either.

Take explosive punching power out of the equation and Tapia was easily more gifted than Pacquiao, and when he wasn't going off the rails he was just as hard a worker.

And he wasn't feather fisted, either. Not by any means. Just not a gale force.

 

BTW Seamus - every time I come in here and see one of your posts I think you're Jack (a more prolific poster from the General Forum and Lounge). Perhaps you should consider a change of avatar? Add a red war hat?

 

Ahem? :fire:

The old days, meaning when the otherwise first responder is on his lunch break??

Just for that, BE, I'm going to spam the bejeezus out of this thread...maybe even a quadruple po-

Oh.

 

Been watching some Tapia. Dammed good fighter. Great even. Good body attack, gay ring demeanor, fast hands, amazing chin, took rounds and fights off sometimes, but was capable of putting together some Masterpiece Classic performances like against Romero and Konadu. Decent dig; could hurt you if he needed to. Great tattoos. A lot of guys like to compare Greb to Calzaghe and its possible that that's how he would look if film of him were ever found. But I like to think that Greb resembled an on form Tapia- arms windmilling away, bouncing in and out like a marauding helium filled pirate, taking few shots but eating those with aplomb before burying the opponent in a torrent of leather. And that's high praise to be compared to possibly the greatest fighter of all time. I just hope that the next life treats him better than this one did. He deserves it.

 

If you want some insight into Tapia, watch the documentary "Absent."

It's about the affect of fatherless homes on children, and they devote a solid 30 minutes to Tapia and his story.

RIP Johnny. Your tortured soul is at rest. Listening to him talk about his pain broke my heart.

 

I'm a fan and always felt his greatest attributes were his heart and courage, his impressive natural physical gifts notwithstanding.

 

Here`s a scary thought ... How much greater might Tapia have been if he wasn`t dealing with his demons ???