Very sad news regarding a great fighter.
Former World Champion in Critical Condition After Fall
Associated Press - January 11, 2003
By TIM DAHLBERG AP Boxing Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Boxer Johnny Tapia was in critical condition at a Las Vegas hospital after falling at his home and losing consciousness early Saturday, hours after he was charged with possessing drug paraphernalia.
The five-time world champion, a former drug addict who has battled personal demons most of his life, had been depressed before the fall, his publicist said.
Tapia was placed on a respirator and was being treated for head trauma, publicist Trayce Zimmerman said.
A spokeswoman at University Medical Center confirmed Tapia's condition but did not provide any more details.
Tapia and his cousin were involved in a police standoff at a house near Bullhead City, Arizona, late Friday that ended with the arrest of two men and Tapia being given a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. Bullhead City is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Las Vegas.
Zimmerman said Tapia, 35, returned to his home in Las Vegas several hours after the confrontation with police and was with his wife, Teresa, when he fell.
``She said he felt depressed and then he just fell down and lost consciousness,'' Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman said Teresa Tapia called an ambulance and her husband was taken to the hospital.
Tapia, who only two years ago was hospitalized for a drug overdose after attempting suicide, last fought Nov. 3 when he lost a 12-round decision to bantamweight Marco Antonio Barrera.
Before the fight, he freely admitted to a turbulent past that led him to fight in trunks with the slogan ``Mi Vida Loca,'' or My Crazy Life, emblazoned on them.
As a child, Tapia saw his mother stabbed to death. He was suspended from boxing for three years for cocaine addiction, and nearly died three times from drug overdoses in the early 1990s.
``It's there every day,'' Tapia said before he fought Barrera. ``I've got a lot of problems. I can mess up tonight or tomorrow. It's always there.''
In the standoff with police, detectives went to a home in Golden Valley, Arizona, after getting a tip that Tapia's cousin was there, said Mohave County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jarrod Lyman.
The cousin, 31-year-old Raymond Whiting, was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear on aggravated assault and weapons charges in New Mexico, Lyman said.
Whiting is suspected of trying to slash a woman's throat during a carjacking in Albuquerque last April.
Police said the standoff started when the men refused to leave the home.
After about an hour, police forced open a door to the home and used a public-address system to ask Whiting to come out, Lyman said.
``Fortunately, the situation resolved itself,'' he said.
Whiting was taken into custody. Another man, Walter Joseph Michael Beck, 26, was arrested on a cocaine possession charge. Lyman said Tapia was not arrested but was to be summoned to court on a felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
``He was very cooperative with the detectives,'' Lyman said of Tapia.
Tapia and his cousin have been in legal trouble before. In 1992, Tapia was arrested on charges that he intimidated a witness to a murder committed by Whiting.
Whiting later pleaded guilty, while Tapia was acquitted of the charge against him.
In July 1994, Tapia was charged with attempting to sell imitation crack cocaine to an off-duty police officer. He was acquitted.
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