Johnny come lately or just Tapia pudding?

Dean Juipe

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 9:39 a.m.

THERE are two schools of thought.

One has it that a longtime drug abuser, let alone a convicted felon who was forced into a four-year "retirement" because of his offenses, has lost something he'll never be able to retrieve. As it pertains to boxing, the theory follows a general theme that the fighter will never be the same.

Conversely, look at Johnny Tapia and tell this tough guy from the streets of Albuquerque that he can't and won't beat Danny Romero tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center and he simply won't understand your reasoning. If he has conquered his drug problems and reined in his fiery temper, what's so difficult about winning the biggest prize fight of his life?

After all, he can say he has never been beaten.

"This is about my pride," Tapia said as his long-awaited fight with Romero draws near. "This is about everything I ever worked for."

Tapia and Romero, each 114 pounds, have been after one another for years. Tonight they'll settle their differences in the main event of a six-bout card to be televised by HBO. The fight will be blacked out in Las Vegas.

Romero is a slight betting favorite at the host casino, Caesars Palace. But the numbers did tighten Thursday as some money obviously came in on Tapia. As it stands, Romero is a --120 and Tapia is a --110.

"That's nice," Tapia said of the betting line. "I wish it was 99 to 1 so all my fans could make some money."

Asked if he was wagering anything, Tapia shook his head no.

"But I'll put my check up against his if he wants to," he quickly added. "I would have fought him for free."

As it is, Tapia is being paid $400,000. Romero, holding the fairly prestigious International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight belt, is getting $450,000.

In the days and weeks of the promotion, it was Tapia -- predictably -- who took the offensive.

"I hate him, I hate him," Tapia said of Romero. "I just don't like anything about him."

Romero, also of Albuquerque, is 7 years younger than Tapia and without the out-of-the-ring baggage that burdened Tapia earlier this decade. Tapia, 30, spent some time in jail and was out of boxing from October 1990 to December 1994 due to his many problems with the law.

"I couldn't stop," he said of doing drugs and getting into street fights. "Drug rehab didn't work. Nothing worked."

He finally righted himself with the aid of his grandparents and his wife, Teresa, who now serves as his manager.

Not that he's squeaky clean even today. For instance, he was arrested in California in May on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge was dismissed but temporarily threatened his fight with Romero, as Tapia is still on probation for an aggravated-assault charge in New Mexico in 1995.

"The hardest thing for me is trying to stay out of trouble," he said. "But I'm OK now and living a happy life. The trouble is, I take 'relaxed' for being 'boring.' It's hard for me because I've always been go, go, go."

He's relatively frank about his past and has always been easy to like. Interestingly, as a fighter he was once firmly perceived to be a brawler, yet he comes into tonight's bout regarded as more of a skilled mover. It may be an inaccurate perception, but these days it's Romero who's seen as the bigger hitter.

"People say I'm not a puncher and that I don't hit hard," Tapia said. "But I can hit."

Fighting a long series of journeymen and not always knocking them out has led to the view that perhaps Tapia has lost his power. He's 40-0-2 with 24 KOs, while Romero is 30-1 with 27 knockouts.

"I've fought sluggers and I've fought slappers, and I do better with sluggers," Tapia said, perhaps hinting that Romero is tailor made for him. Better yet, "he's probably going to come right at me, thinking I'm an older fighter."

Age may be a factor, as might a slight weakness shared by both men: a tendency to bleed.

But Tapia's trainers, Eddie Futch and Jessie Reid, are confident and almost excited about their man's frame of mind and physical preparedness.

"Being called to help Johnny win this contest with Danny Romero is an extra thrill," said the 85-year-old Futch, who joined Tapia's team just two weeks ago. "It's been my extreme pleasure to work with him and see the zest he brings to the profession."

Reid agreed and added a comment at the heart of Tapia's public appeal. "He's been through the trash barrel," he said. "He's been up and down, up and down. But he has a magnetism. The average man can relate to him."

Tapia certainly aligns himself with the average man and he says that's the difference between he and Romero.

"I've always stayed the same," Tapia said. "I'm not better than anyone else. But he doesn't respect nobody. That's why I want to bring him back down, show him that he's human."

He said he doesn't have a fight plan per se aside from trying to retain his composure.

"I have to fight smart," he said. "I have to keep the fans from getting to me. I'll play it by ear once the fight starts; my instincts will tell me what to do.

"I know he's in shape and he wants a fast pace. That's fine with me. I just have to fight smart."

He added that a couple of intangibles -- the Reyes gloves and the fact he gets to come into the ring last -- have already worked to his advantage.

"Everything's been going my way," Tapia said. "A guy who has been ducking me for several years will finally be there in front of me, and I've gotten older, better and sharper.

"I'll never get a better moment in my boxing career than right now."

Boxing notes

Thursday evening's weigh-in at Caesars was uneventful as both men came in at 114 pounds, or one under the limit. There had been some concern about Romero, as he weighed 117 as late as Monday. But he tipped the scales at 114 even with a bulky shirt on. Like the press conference the day before, the fighters did not appear at the weigh-in at the same time. Neither had anything to say to the media or to fans who cheered (or booed) from behind a restricting wall. ... The undercard underwent some revision Thursday and now includes: Michael Carbajal, 45-3, vs. Jake Matlala, 45-10-2, 12 rounds, light flyweights; Jesus Ruiz, 12-0, vs. Carl Jones, 23-5-4, eight rounds, cruiserweights; Augie Sanchez, 9-0, vs. Ron Gladden, 8-2-1, six rounds, featherweights; Cesar Bazan, 27-2, vs. Jose Manjarrez, 10-15-4, eight rounds, lightweights; and Chris Linson, 10-0, vs. David Williams, 2-4, six rounds, junior middleweights. ... First bell is 4:30 p.m. and a crowd of 12,000 is expected in the 18,000-seat arena. ... Top Rank has added a card for July 25 at the Tropicana. Veteran featherweight Orlando Canizales, 45-3-1, is in the main event with Edwin Santana, 22-1-3. Local junior middleweight Julian Jackson has a spot on the undercard. ... The next night, July 26, Forum Boxing of Los Angeles will have a card at the Trop that headlines Hector Lopez vs. Mark Lewis.