RSSIlido Julio
Friday, February 23, 2007
Tapia’s Opponent Changes for Tonight
Former five-time world champion Johnny Tapia has a new opponent for tonight after his scheduled foe, Ilido Julio failed his physical earlier today according to promoter Lenny Fresquez.
“He failed his physical. That’s all I can tell you,” Fresquez said Friday.
Tapia’s new opoonent will be Paulino Villalobos.
Is Tapia going to retire after this fight? The obvious answer was yes up until this week but now it seems that Tapia is unsure of his future:
“If this is my final one, it’s my final one. If it’s not, what can I do?” said Tapia. “I just love it still. I’ve been doing it all my life.”
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tapia Announces Final Bout Against Julio
Johnny Tapia announced at a news conference yesterday that he would be returning to his home state of New Mexico for one last final fight…
The former five-time champion in three different weight classes will be facing Ilido Julio on February 3rd in what will be his last fight as he is retiring after the fight.
“I guarantee you, this will be my last fight. It’s time for me to hang up the gloves, but I want to go out with a win and to be on top,” said Tapia, who won titles at junior bantamweight, bantamweight and featherweight. “I will give my hometown one last fight. I really want to outbox Ilido, but you know once he hits me, and I taste blood, it’s on. It’s time for me to pass the torch to the younger guys and give them the opportunity.”
Even though he is retiring, Tapia plans to stay involved in boxing as a trainer. He will be training his son, Johnny Tapia Jr. especially. His son is set to make his amateur debut some time next month…