Johnny Tapia , a prizefighter who won world titles in three weight classes in a chaotic life that included jail, struggles with mental illness, suicide attempts and five times being declared clinically dead as a result of drug overdoses, was found dead at his home in Albuquerque on Sunday. He was 45. 
 
 The Albuquerque police said an autopsy would be done in the next few days. Foul play is not suspected. 
 
 Tapia, who was 5 feet 6 inches, said the raw fury he displayed in winning his world titles came from the horrific memory of seeing his mother being kidnapped and murdered when he was 8. He said he saw every opponent as his mother’s killer. 
 
 Less than a year after his mother’s death, he recounted, his uncles were making him fight older boys in matches they bet on. If he lost, they beat him, he said. 
 
 Tapia’s father had vanished before he was born, and Tapia had thought he was dead until he turned up in 2010 after being released from a federal penitentiary and DNA tests confirmed his paternity. The son slipped into a lifelong pattern of binging on cocaine and alcohol, struggling with bipolar disorder, and cycling in and out of jail and drug rehabilitation programs. 
 
 “Mi vida loca,” or my crazy life, were the words tattooed on his belly. He had made that his motto after he thought he had outgrown his first, “baby-faced assassin.” 
 
 Tapia won his first 22 professional fights, then was suspended from boxing after failing three drug tests. 
 
 After three and a half years away from the ring, he returned to win five fights before defeating Henry Martinez to win the world super flyweight title (115-pound limit). Still undefeated after 18 more bouts, he beat Nana Konadu to win the bantamweight title (118 pounds) and become a two-division world champion. 
 
 In his first defeat, Tapia lost the bantamweight crown to Paulie Avala in June 1999 in what The Ring magazine called the “fight of the year.” He narrowly defeated Manuel Medina in 2002 to win the featherweight (126 pounds) title. 
 
 Mike Tyson called Tapia one of the greatest fighters ever. He won 59 fights, 30 by knockout; lost 5; and drew 2. He was knocked out only once. 
 
 His left jab was punishing, and he claimed not to mind being hit. He sometimes stuck out his tongue to taunt opponents. 
 
 “Johnny sees things well,” Freddie Roach, Tapia’s trainer and a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame, said in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2002. “Sometimes by the book, it would be wrong to do the things Johnny does, but he’s such a natural fighter, he gets away with it.” 
 
 John Lee Tapia liked to point out that he was born in Albuquerque on Friday the 13th in February 1967. Larry Merchant, the boxing analyst, told Playboy in 2004 that Tapia was “a five-to-one underdog to survive his own childhood.” 
 
 Tapia’s mother, Virginia, died on May 28, 1975, according to a police report that said her body was found stabbed 26 times with scissors and a screwdriver. Not included in the police report was young Johnny’s memory of being awakened by screaming and looking out the window to see his mother chained in the back of a pickup truck driving by the house, Sports Illustrated said. 
 
 He was brought up by his grandfather Miguel with eight other family members in a three-bedroom house in Albuquerque. Miguel, an amateur boxing champion, taught him pugilistic skills. Tapia was the 1983 National Golden Gloves light flyweight champion, and the 1985 Golden Gloves flyweight champion. His first pro fight was in 1988. 
 
 His past regularly came back to haunt him. 
 
 Just two and a half weeks before his loss to Ayala in 1999, the phone rang in the gym where Tapia was training. A police officer told him that his mother’s killing had been solved. The murderer had died in 1983 after stumbling drunk into the middle of a busy Albuquerque street where he was hit by three cars and dragged to his death. The investigation had been reopened at the behest of Tapia’s wife. 
 
 Tapia said the news about his mother’s killer upset him and might have contributed to his loss in the fight, but he considered it a “blessing” to finally know the truth. 
 
 In 1992, he met Teresa Chavez at a party and was determined to marry her. Realizing his habits, she at first resisted. Playboy reported that when they finally married, one of her cousins approached her and said, “If you want to see what you married, go look in the bathroom.” 
 
 She opened the bathroom door and found Tapia with a needle in his arm. He took the wedding cash and dumped her in a cheap hotel. The next day, he was in a hospital with an overdose. He had to be revived after his heart stopped beating, the first of at least five times this happened. 
 
 Their marriage lurched wildly up and down, as Mrs. Tapia struggled to provide stability. She became his manager. 
 
 It was almost the last straw when Tapia was again hospitalized for drug abuse and his wife’s brother and nephew died in a car crash on the way to visit him in the hospital. “It’s my fault,” Tapia said. “I killed them both.” 
 
 His wife somehow stayed. She survives him, along with their three children. He quit the ring several times, but could not seem to give it up. His last fight was in June 2011. He won a unanimous decision. 
 
 Tapia said he thought his tattoos of angels kept him from passing into the next world. He may or may not have considered this a good thing, his wife told Playboy. 
 
 “I don’t know how this story is going to end,” she said. “I’d love to think that in 30 years, we’ll be old together and surrounded by family. But when I ask Johnny how he sees himself in the future, he says he’s not even sure he’ll wake up tomorrow.” 

 
 
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 Johnny Tapia’s “vida loca” has come to an end. 
 
 The five-time world boxing champion died Sunday, a source close to the family said. 
 
 Albuquerque police were called to Tapia’s house about 7:45 p.m. by a family member who found a body there, said Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Robert Gibbs. The body is believed to be Tapia’s, but police could not say with certainty that it was. 
 
 The death did not appear suspicious, Gibbs said. An official cause of death will be determined by the Office of the Medical Investigator following an autopsy. 
 
 “He was such a lovable guy and a terrific fighter,” said Bruce Trampler, Top Rank Inc., vice president. “I’m not shocked by this news, and I guess we all knew it was coming, but he was a wonderful character.” 
 
 “He’s a human being,” said Danny Romero, Tapia’s boxing rival. “We all have our problems. Everybody fights them in different ways. … Last time I talked to him was about a month and a half ago. It was just a high-five (type of conversation), just messing around on the phone. He didn’t sound too bad. We all fight our own demons.” 
 
 Tapia’s life was marked by troubles with drug and alcohol abuse and included stints in jail. 
 
 Still, he managed to touch lives. 
 
 “To me, he was the most giving person that I know,” said Hector Muñoz, an Albuquerque professional boxer being trained by Tapia. “I’m just blessed that he did work my corner and that he trained me. He was a great guy, just unbelievable as a trainer, too.” 
 
 TV news vans and police vehicles crowded the far northwest Albuquerque street, casting bright lights through the dim neighborhood. Tapia’s house was quiet; Tapia’s wife, some family members and investigators stayed inside. 
 
 Outside, neighbors gathered in a nearby driveway as a pair of boys milled around on their bicycles. 
 
 “He’s a legend to New Mexico,” said Luis Montaño, 20, who looked distraught and said he’s a professional boxer. He said he’s met Tapia a few times and was using a punching bag when he heard what happened. 
 
 Johnny Tapia at a glance 
 
 Born: Feb. 13, 1967, Albuquerque. 
 
 Aliases: “Baby-Face Assassin�? “Mi Vida Loca�? 
 
 1983: Tapia wins the 106-pound national Golden Gloves title at age 16. 
 
 1988: Turns pro. 
 
 1990: Tests positive for cocaine following a bout at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. 
 
 1994: Returns to the ring, won the first of his five world titles at the Pit. 
 
 1995: Judge orders Tapia to a drug-rehab program in the aftermath of a domestic assault incident. 
 
 1997: Tapia defeats Danny Romero in Las Vegas, Nev. 
 
 2000: Police are called to Tapia’s home in Las Vegas, Nev. After a second incident amid rumors of a suicide attempt, he is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 
 
 2002: Tapia wins his fifth world title. 
 
 2003: Tapia is in a coma for three days and spends several months in a California rehab center. 
 
 2007: Tapia is hospitalized from an apparent cocaine overdose. 
 
 2009: Tapia is taken into custody for a violation of parole related to cocaine use. 
 
 2011: Announces his retirement after defeating Mauricio Pastrana by decision. 
 
 2012: Tapia is found dead. 
 
 He put on a boxing sweater and came to the house as his friends in the neighborhood called him. 
 
 “His team looked up to him. He was a good boxer.” 
 
 “He had such a huge heart,” Trampler said. “It seemed like no matter who he met or who he saw, whether he knew them or thought he knew them or thought he’d met them, whatever, it was, ‘Give me a call, here’s my number, here’s my card.’ He was a real people person and I can’t tell you how many times he called me just to see how I was doing, just checking up on you, that kind of stuff. I’m not especially flattered because he probably did that with everybody. … He was just such an upbeat person.” 
 
 Tapia, 45, was working as a boxing trainer and is the subject of a documentary being made by Albuquerque-born filmmaker Eddie Alcazar. 
 
 “I have all kinds of problems; I am a problem,” Tapia once told the Journal. “But I’ve got three beautiful babies. Now they’ve got me changing Pampers and washing ‘em, and that’s a beautiful thing in its own. 
 
 “I’ve got unconditional love right now from my kids and also from my wife. I’m a family man. My kids, that’s more work than boxing, man.” 
 
 Tapia, whose biography is called “Mi Vida Loca,” was born in Albuquerque on Feb. 13, 1967, the son of Virginia Tapia Gallegos and Jerry Padilla. It was not until 2010 that Tapia discovered that Padilla was his father. 
 
 His mother was stabbed and killed when he was 8 years old. In 1999, law-enforcement officials determined that she was killed by her sometime boyfriend Richard Espinosa. Espinosa died in 1983. 
 
 Tapia was raised in Albuquerque’s Wells Park neighborhood by his grandparents, Miguel and Esther Tapia, and a houseful of aunts and uncles. 
 
 When Tapia was 16, he won the 106-pound national Golden Gloves amateur boxing title, and captured a second Golden Gloves title at 112 pounds two years later. 
 
 He turned pro in 1988 and began fighting with the nickname “The Baby-Faced Assassin.” 
 
 Between 1990-93, Tapia was in and out of jail, waging a battle with cocaine and alcohol. 
 
 But in 1994, he won the first of his five world titles, beating Henry Martinez for the WBO junior bantamweight title. 
 
 He defeated Romero in a 1997 bout in Las Vegas, Nev., a fight that enthralled Albuquerque. 
 
 “This is just tragic for us,” said Romero. “Maybe with this awareness we can get everything going in a public way. It’s not like I haven’t fought my battles with alcohol. Everybody needs help.” 
 
 “In the ring, he would fight anybody” Trampler said. “He feared nobody, but he was also a gracious winner. The obvious example is him and Danny. He was very respectful of Danny not only the night they fought but in the following years.” 
 
 Tapia’s last fight was a decision over Mauricio Pastrana in June 2011. 
 
 “I have videos of him with my son, Maximus,” Muñoz said. “He’s gonna be 2. He doesn’t even say grandma, but he says Johnny. That’s how much he loves Johnny. 
 
 “I don’t know, it’s awful.” 
 
 “It’s strange how you can be away from somebody for a couple of years at a time,” Romero said, “and it seems like nobody’s gone nowhere. He was lively, the energy he had, just making you feel good.” 
 
 “You wouldn’t have room to write all I’d want to say,” Trampler said. “He was bigger than life. His life was really much, much more than what his ring career was. Like I said he was just such a people person. I wish I could be more shocked and surprised, I’m not. But I’m very sad. 
 
 “This is a punch in the stomach.” 
 
 — This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
– The boxing world is mourning five-time world champion Johnny Tapia, who was found dead at his Albuquerque home on Sunday. The prizefighter, whose career was marked by drug and alcohol addiction, arrests, and depression, was just 45. Police say foul play is not suspected. Tapia's mother was murdered when he was just eight years old, and he said the raw fury he displayed in the ring came from the horrific memory of seeing her kidnapped, the New York Times reports. Tapia—who Mike Tyson called one of the greatest fighters ever—won 59 fights—30 by knockout. He lost just five fights; two were draws. He was knocked out only once. He had been working as a boxing trainer, and is survived by his wife and three children. "He was such a lovable guy and a terrific fighter,” the vice president of boxing promoters Top Rank tells the Albuquerque Journal. “I’m not shocked by this news, and I guess we all knew it was coming, but he was a wonderful character.”