Johnny Tapia, the five time world boxing champion, was a shadow of his former self when he beat the unknown Evaristo Primero by a majority decision on Friday night, in what it likely to be his last fight.
Tapia said: “This is how I wanted to go out, fighting a tough fighter. It’s a beautiful thing to retire in Albuquerque.”
40 year old Tapia was boxing for the first time in well over a year, but he was able to land enough punches to secure the win over his opponent. However ten years ago this guy would not have lasted three minutes against the great Jonny Tapia.
On of the boxing judges scored it as a draw but the other two scored the fight as a win for Tapia, 98-92 and 96-94.
After he has won, Tapia tried to pull of one of his trademark moves, the backflip but he failed twice, landed on his knees. However despite Tapia being well past his prime, a sell out crowd of 3000 still came to watch the fight.
His opponent, Primero, from El Paso, never really looked dangerous against Tapia, but he did make it an interesting fight, repeatedly exchanging punches with Tapia. Primero thought that he had won the fight, but he paid tribute to Tapia as a “courageous champion” but supported him retiring.
“He’s not the fighter he used to be. He’s old,” Primero said. Then borrowing from the title of Tapia’s recently released book (Mi Vida Loca), Primero added: “For the sake of his crazy life, he needs to retire. He’s going to get hurt.”
Tapia commented on his choice of opponent after the fight:
“I went through several opponents and got a good one at the last,” Tapia said. “He was ready, but I was in good shape to take whatever he brought.”
What do you think of Jonny Tapia’s win and do you think he should retire now?
