Felix's Boxing Column

EL PASO — The official promotion of boxer Johnny Tapia’s comeback was called Quest For Glory.
Instead, it turned into a Quest For The Truth on a boxing card that turned into a fiasco.
On Friday night at the El Paso Country Coliseum, the 41-year-old and six-time world champion Tapia was supposed to have fought for the first time in over a year and it was supposed to be the start of his quest for another world title.
Instead, questions about his contract with promoter Ron Weathers ended Tapia’s fight with Pedro Rincon, leaving Tapia’s future in doubt and left a great fight town without much of a boxing card.
The chaos actually started earlier in the week when Tapia’s original opponent, Jose Alonso pulled out and in came Rincon. Then during Thursday’s weigh-in, confusion weighed in (no pun intended) when there wasn’t an official weigh-in and there were threats of the fight not coming off.
Then on Friday, the wheels did come off the main event, which led to an ardent press conference between bouts on Friday night to try and explain what had happened.
It’s funny, in all my years, I had never been to a fight card where a press conference was the main event.
Tapia nor his wife Teresa Tapia were present at the press conference, rather the fighter’s attorneys Thomas Pharr and Antonio Maestas, both of Albuquerque, were there to discuss matters.
Pharr said there was no contract in order between Tapia and Weathers. Maestas said Tapia really wanted to fight and was in good shape and should not be blamed for what occurred.
Weathers, who stood next to the two attorneys, disagreed. He said there was a contract that would have provided for a 70-30 split of the proceeds of the fight, 70 percent for Tapia, 30 for Weathers.
Weathers added that he had advanced Tapia several thousand dollars that the Texas commission had a copy of the contract. Texas boxing administrator Dick Cole said there was a contract on file, but only for $1. Such a deal is not uncommon, Cole said, and is used as a way of keeping matters confidential.
However, Weathers accused Cole of encouraging Teresa Tapia to ask for more money up front from Weathers, an accusation Cole denied.
Weathers added that the Tapias asked for an additional $60,000 on the morning of the fight, which he could not deliver. Weathers later hinted that Tapia had a back injury suffered later in the day after acupuncture. But attorney Maestas said Tapia was ready to fight.
Either way you look at it, the situation was muddled and frustrating for everyone. The very few fight fans in the crowd, estimated at less than 1,000, were frustrated and some took the refund offer and went home. Others saw the sign outside the arena that Tapia wasn’t fighting and never came in.
Weathers and the attorneys agreed that Tapia is done working with the promoter, who claims he had a long term plan for Tapia’s return to the elite.
Cole wouldn’t say whether or not Tapia would be disciplined for Friday’s pull-out.
Tapia has had a long and fine career, but Friday’s fiasco tarnishes it. Now, he’s going to have a heck of a time finding a serious promoter to back his cause.
I have to wonder whether Tapia really wants to fight at all. He said he wanted to win another title, but boxing is very draining on one’s emotional and physical state. Maybe this was his way of saying no more.
The boxing scene in New Mexico, El Paso and Juarez has a great history, particulary in El Paso. Why does this type of scenario have to take place in a great fight town?
It’s sad, El Paso didn’t deserve this kind of treatment.
And Tapia’s career should never have gotten to this point. He’s fought the best in his era, he’s made lots of money, been the headline attraction and fought at Madison Square Garden.
Now, it’s reasonable to assume his career is over on a disputed contract in a non-descript affair that was supposed to take place in what is basically a barn in West Texas.
What a sad state of affairs.

Felix Chavez can be reached at fchavez@lcsun-news.com