Tapia vs Roman, a master boxer who is almost forgotten at Jr. BW. How do you see this play out? Would Tapia be able to rough up Roman in a brawl or would Roman be able to use his skills and finesse to outbox him?
Don't dismiss Tapia's excellent skills and speed. He was really underrated in the skills department. He often abandoned them to please the crowd or satisfy his own demons perhaps... It's a bit of a homer call but I am going with a focussed Tapia who follows a gameplan.
Roman is the better fighter (rather he beat better guys) but Tapia is so good. I think he could outwork Gilberto but it might just be because I remember Tapia better than roman.
Johnny Tapia's boxing skills really are overlooked because of his willingness to go at it. Rewatching some of his fights I think I might actually favor Tapia over Roman in a close fight. His performances against Danny Romero and Konadu (who has a victory over Roman) were great to watch.
Both great fighters with excellent skill. I met Johnny Tapia about a year before he died and he was such a nice guy. I think I’ll give the edge to Roman I think he makes good enough use of his reach to win slightly more rounds.
Tapia could win. He was an excellent boxer, super fast hands, very durable, and if Roman started to get the better of the boxing game he could change gears and put it on him. I’m concerned Arthur Johnson stifled Tapia though. And Roman’s sharp, slashing punches might mess Tapia’s face up. A toss-up IMO. Although Tapia’s 115lb resume leaves a lot to be desired, he did enough and is a H2H force. He’s top 5 of all time at the weight (I ranked him at no.3 when I did a top 10 fairly recently) but Roman is ‘The Don’ at the weight. Flip a coin. It’d be great to watch.
I disagree. I think Tapia is the better boxer who is also faster. Tapia can also go toe to toe if he has to and dont forget Tapia went to the body really well. Tapia has some great wins as well.
Tapia could do it but I'd back Roman I think. As people have mentioned Johnny was skilled at his peak as well as fast and durable. He threw lovely punches and combinations and could box or slug, but even when he was boxing and making full use of his armoury, I don't think he was especially hard to hit. Flea has already mentioned the Johnson fight. Roman was just as skilled and defensively sounder as well as fundamentally a little bit with the longer reach, though Tapia was faster of hand and possibly of foot. Great fight, full of action and skillful exchanges. Roman 7-5 on points.