Sunday, at a memorial service, Albuquerque bade farewell to a favorite son. Tapia, a mercurial five-time world boxing champion, died at his West Side home on May The occasion was more festive than solemn. The two had never met previously, but Holden said Tapia, at the weigh-in, somehow realized that the promoter was preoccupied.
Tapia persisted, Holden said, until the promoter finally told him that his best friend had been paralyzed, his wife and child killed, in an auto accident. After the weigh-in, as Holden prepared to go visit his friend, Tapia insisted on going with him. He would not take no for an answer. Tapia won the fight, defeating Jaime Olvera by fourth-round knockout. The next day, Holden said, he went back to the hospital to visit his friend. Hours before the Pit doors opened at p. But he liked the way Tapia treated people.
The ring was surrounded by photos and flower arrangements. A silver, life-size sculpture of the champion doing his trademark victory back flip was also on display. Before the service began, fans, well-wishers and friends were allowed to file past the memorial on the floor. Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. Paulie Ayala, who twice defeated Tapia in memorable, action-packed bouts, paid tribute in person.
Saturday night at a nationally televised boxing card in Carson, Calif. His charisma and concern for others drew many to this unique memorial service. His casket was positioned in the middle of a boxing ring set up in the arena.
Boxing gloves and roses adorned the top of the casket, and photos of him in action in the ring were displayed along the sides. He was a boxing champion who held five world titles. Former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson was a speaker, and video tributes came in from other boxing greats and event promoters around the world. Read the full story in The Albuquerque Journal.
Johnny was right. Holden's mind wandered. All he could think about was Scott and how he should be at his friend's bedside. Eight days before, Scott was driving down a turnpike in Tulsa, when a semi truck slammed into his vehicle, instantly killing his wife and son. Somehow, Scott survived but was paralyzed from the waist down. They buried his family and he couldn't go, and I'm just not really into this fight,' " Holden said.
Weigh-ins concluded, and Holden was leaving the arena when Tapia approached him and tapped him on the shoulder.
When they got there, Holden said, Tapia was silent, struck by Scott's positivity. On the way back to the hotel, Holden and Tapia didn't say much. Three days later, after Tapia left town, Holden went back to visit his friend. Dignitaries came by the dozens Sunday to memorialize the legendary boxer and to share anecdotes -- all of them painting Tapia as a kindred spirit, the generous, happy-go-lucky type.
Fans poured into The Pit, where in Tapia won his first of five world titles. They chanted his name, paid their respects and remembered his life, a callous existence rooted in death, family dysfunction, self-destruction and pain. More than a half-dozen friends and professional acquaintances spoke, all conjuring up enough Tapia moments to fill a library, as Tapia's casket sat in the middle of a makeshift boxing ring.
Call me if you need me. He invoked memories of Tapia's July 18, , slugfest with Danny Romero. Tapia's life outside the ring mirrored the time he spent in it, a constant battle marked by rounds of deliverance and doom. Death was the only opponent Tapia didn't want to beat.
He was a closet fatalist, scarred forever after seeing his mother meet a violent end. She was stabbed 26 times and left for dead on Albuquerque's south side, while the 8-year-old Tapia watched from the window sill. And yet, as Sunday's memorial service proved, Tapia extended so much hope and inspiration to his followers. His bouts were as cathartic as they were thrilling, the fighter channeling his mother's killer into a type of heavy-handed calligraphy -- swooping hooks, short jabs, whipping haymakers.
Despite an outpouring of public adoration, Tapia struggled to overcome his demons. A cocaine addiction lopped off years of his pro boxing career. And stints in jail and a committed wife, Teresa, weren't enough to cure what ailed him. He never reconciled how no one called the cops when his mother didn't come home.
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