Tapia quickly casts himself as tough guy

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, July 15, 1997 | 9:35 a.m.

The opportunity to intimidate Danny Romero was there and Johnny Tapia wasn't about to pass it up.

It was, in fact, vintage Tapia: cocky and threatening.

It's a role he has always been comfortable in and it's one he returned to Monday when he and Romero were featured on a conference call designed to promote their Friday fight at the Thomas & Mack Center.

There were no swear words and the tone was relatively civil, yet Tapia went out of his way to try to throw a scare into his youthful rival.

"I'm going to be in your face punk," Tapia said to Romero. "Nobody's going to jump in for you this time Danny. You've been protected like a baby."

Tapia, 30, and Romero, who turned 23 last Saturday, are Albuquerque natives who fight at 115 pounds. They're scheduled for 12 rounds with the IBF championship taking a subservient role to a more basic shared concern: pride.

"His best can't beat my worst," Romero claimed, adding that he could and would knock out Tapia "any time he sticks his chin out."

That inflamed the always easily flammable Tapia.

"You know I'm a hard guy to put away," he said. "You're going to freak out when you hit me and I laugh at you."

Tapia is 40-0-2 in a pro career that dates from 1988 and includes drug suspensions and numerous personal troubles.

Romero is 30-1 in what is now a five-year pro career blemished only by a shocking TKO loss to Willy Salazar two years ago in Las Vegas. Romero suffered an orbital fracture of the left eye in that bout although he now says the eye "is perfect."

And that, of course, gave Tapia a chance to add his own postscript. "It won't be after the fight," he said in promissory style.

Later in the day, Tapia worked out at the Top Rank Gym under his third trainer in less than a month, Eddie Futch. It's also his fourth trainer in less than a year, as Tapia has worked with Miguel Diaz, Jesse Reid and Emanuel Steward since last fall. Tapia cut his ties with Reid last month and with Steward 10 days ago.

While Tapia spoke of Futch reverently -- "he's a great legend and what he's taught me in the last week I haven't learned in my entire career" -- he also said a trainer is somewhat incidental.

"I've always trained myself," he said. "I can change (again) right now and it won't make any difference. My trainer's there for moral support. Give me some water in the corner and I can do the rest."

The "I can do it alone" approach is typical of Tapia, yet he understands the pressure of the situation. Unlike Romero, he's at an age where a loss could severely damage his career and his future earning power.

He's getting $400,000 for this one.

"It's the fight of my life," Tapia said. "It's do or die for me. But I refuse to lose and I refuse to go down."

Romero may have the slightly better power -- 27 knockouts to Tapia's 24 -- and probably has faced the stronger opposition in the past year. As a result, and because he's naturally less outgoing than Tapia, Romero is taking a quieter approach as the fight draws near.

"All this talk of who's going to do this and who's going to do that," Romero said, "well, he'll have me all night long to try and do it.

"I'm not going to go off and act like an idiot. It's not my nature. I'll leave that for someone else."

The verbal jab was Romero's best shot during the conference call.

"He's too big-headed," Tapia complained. "I can't wait to see him across from me in the ring."

Fight notes

Tapia arrived in Las Vegas Sunday night. Romero comes in today. ... Each man will appear separately at Wednesday's press conference at Caesars Palace. "We're not going to turn the press conference into a circus," said co-promoter Bob Arum, concerned in part by what may happen if the fighters crossed paths in the same room. ... Arum said a crowd of around 12,000 is expected for the fight, which means tickets will remain available all week. ... Arum has also filed suit against the Las Vegas Hilton, which initially contracted to host the fight card. "The litigation has started and was filed Friday," he said. "There are considerable damages, plus punitive damages because there was no reason for what they did." Arum said the T&M rental approached $100,000. "The Hilton doesn't know how to handle these type of events," he said. "They were in way, way, way over their heads." District judge Stephen Huffacker has the case. ... Co-promoter Cedric Kushner called the Tapia-Romero fight the biggest of his 12-year career in boxing. "I'm not embarrassed to say it," he said. "This is a fight that has been brewing for four or five years and it's the most important fight I've been involved in." ... Tapia's advice to his fans at the fight: "Keep your cool."