[Boxing] Tapia still 'serious' in hospital

[Rappy Veteran]

Five-time world champion Johnny Tapia remains in a 'serious' condition in hospital after being found unconscious after a reported drug overdose.

The 40-year-old overcame appalling tragedy and suffering in his childhood to become champion at super fly, bantam and featherweights.

He said he was retiring two weeks ago after beating Evaristo Primero.

Further tragedy struck his family on Wednesday when his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car crash.

The death of his relatives, driving to hospital to visit him, is just the latest twist in a horrific life story.

Tapia has a history of drug abuse and police in New Mexico have indicated he will be charged with possession of a controlled substance.

In his 2006 autobiography, Tapia described how he had been declared clinically dead five times, each time due to a drug overdose.

His father was shot dead before he was born and at the age of eight, he saw his mother abducted, before she was later found stabbed to death.

He has also survived shootings, a bus crash and a near-drowning to become one of the most successful fighters of recent years in his weight range.

In 2004, when he announced his retirement for the first time, Tapia said "Boxing has done a beautiful thing for me. It has saved my life."

Talk about awful...family going to see him in Hospital and they are killed :|

[Steven P. Administrators]

Damn that sucks!

[cterry511]

yea i think i remkember seeing a Bio on his life before one of his fights on HBO. if that was him WOW. gangs, drugs, and murder.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Wow. Did not know this and I am a pretty serious boxing fan. I always admired Tapia for the absolutely overwhelming odds he had conquered, or appeared to have conquered, especially for being an addict and myself having addicts in my immediate family. To hear about his family dying on the way to see him is just... awful. No other way to put it.

[Deadlydread]

Ya, the hospitals here are gettin overran with flowers and stuff, cause they wont announce which one he's at, they just send stuff to different hospitals, and hope it gets to him somehow. most of the time tho, the hospitals just throw the stuff away.