Johnny Tapia obituary

Perhaps the largest crowd ever crammed into York Hall, Bethnal Green, was on 19 January 2002, when boxing's wild man Johnny Tapia fought, at his own request, in the East End of London's most famous boxing arena. Officially the venue holds 1,200, but no one counted how many actually wangled their way in. Hundreds more seemed to be there. Tapia destroyed his opponent, Eduardo Alvarez, in the first round.

Tapia, who has been found dead aged 45, of unknown causes, at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had a chaotic life. He referred to cocaine as "my mistress", and he attributed his numerous brushes with the law, not to mention several suicide attempts, to his periodic dependency on the drug. But during the time he was drug-free, he was a charismatic and funny man who was also one of the outstanding fighters of his era, becoming a world champion five times, at three different weights.

Only last year he was seen at the ringside and in the build-up to major US fights, working as an interviewer for Showtime, the American cable TV network. Charming everyone he met with his happy-go-lucky demeanour, Tapia was full of enthusiasm for his new way of earning a living. Having travelled to the US as a Sky commentator, I found it somewhat surreal to be asked what I thought about the likely outcome of a contest by a fighter of his stature.

Tapia was born in Albuquerque and grew up believing his father had been murdered in a gangland killing while his mother, Virginia, was pregnant. Then, when Johnny was eight, his mother was kidnapped, stabbed and apparently left for dead. In his autobiography, Mi Vida Loca: The Crazy Life of Johnny Tapia (2006), he told of how he tried to raise the alarm, having been woken by his mother's screams, but that nobody believed him. She was eventually discovered by the police, who took her to hospital, where she died four days later. Tapia was subsequently brought up by his grandmother.

He started boxing at the age of nine and became an outstanding junior, twice winning the National Golden Gloves title, at light flyweight in 1983, then at flyweight in 1985. Boxing was the only thing at which the youngster excelled, and he had his first paid contest in 1988.

His talent brought a string of wins, but also money to purchase drugs. He tested positive for cocaine when little more than two years into his professional career and was banned from the sport. After a break of more than three years, Tapia returned in 1994 and by the end of the year was a world champion for the first time when he defeated Henry Martinez to win the World Boxing Organisation super-flyweight crown. That year, he also married Teresa Chavez, with whom he had three children.

He successfully defended his WBO super-flyweight title on 13 occasions, in the process also becoming the International Boxing Federation champion in 1997 when he won a unification match against another Albuquerque-born hispanic American, Danny Romero. Unable to make the weight, Tapia moved up to bantamweight and, after two warm-up fights, became World Boxing Association bantamweight champion in 1998, when he outpointed Nana Yaw Konadu of Ghana. He lost that title in 1999 to another American, Paulie Ayala, but in his next fight defeated Jorge Julio to become WBO bantamweight champion in 2000. Moving up to featherweight in 2002, he became a champion for the fifth time when he defeated Mexico's Manuel Medina to win the IBF version of the title.

With the words Mi Vida Loca (my crazy life) tattooed across his midriff, Tapia continued to enjoy cult-hero status, although his personal life at times span out of control as a result of his drug-taking. He claimed to have been pronounced dead in hospital on several occasions, only to make seemingly miraculous recoveries.

While he was in hospital recuperating from a cocaine overdose in 2007, his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident on their way to visit him. In 2010 he discovered that a family friend he had known all his life was his father. Tapia reflected that the news came "after 43 years of crying, saying my father was dead".

Tapia had his final contest in June 2011, and won on points, having lost only five and drawn two of 59 professional contests.

He is survived by his wife and children.

John Lee "Johnny" Tapia, boxer, born 13 February 1967; died 27 May 2012

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