Tapia: Underdog for life

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

While acknowledging that he deserves to be the underdog, Johnny Tapia offers a note of caution to those interested in betting on his Nov. 2 featherweight fight with Marco Antonio Barrera at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"Everybody knows my life style and life story," he said this week during a conference call from his training camp in Big Bear, Calif. "I was an underdog coming into this world.

"This is just the icing on the cake."

Thus far, bettors are going with Barrera. When the sports book at the MGM initially posted a line on the fight, it had Barrera at a minus 300 and Tapia at a plus 250. Those numbers have changed to where it's currently Barrera minus 400 and Tapia plus 330.

"If I was the (bettor) I'd bet a lot of money on me," Tapia said, factoring in his past and 52-2-1 record. "And I'd win a lot."

Yet he knows what he's up against this time.

"I'm fighting the king of the featherweights (and it's) such a big honor for me," Tapia said. "I'm fighting the best out there and I want to look good."

Tapia, 35, has a wealth of experience but so does Barrera. The latter is 55-3 and riding a hot streak after big wins over Naseem Hamed and Erik Morales.

"He knows me, I know him," Tapia said. "He's a strong man. He's still a warrior, he's still powerful.

"He's willing to do anything to win. He brings a lot to the table."

The stakes are sufficient for Tapia to be discussing the fight as if it were a life-and-death matter.

"He's going to have to kill me to beat me," he said. "I'm willing to die in there."

That type of fearlessness is typical for Tapia, who endured a difficult childhood and has had a number of legal problems over the years. But in an effort to right himself in the ring he has returned to trainer Freddie Roach and is feeling confident in spite of the obstacle Barrera -- who is also training at Big Bear -- provides.

"I've got my dedication and desire back," Tapia said. "I'm ready.

"Just hearing the name 'Marco Antonio Barrera' will get you fired up. He'll be right there in my face and I'll be in his face, too."

While lively exchanges in the fight are inevitable, Tapia believes both he and Barrera will attempt to stick to a game plan that minimizes an all-out war.

"I hear he's working on speed now," Tapia said. "I've watched him fight and he's watched me (and) he can change at any given time, but so can I.

"He's had a lot of wars and I've had a lot of wars, and that means a game plan can go out the window.

"If I get cut, then (the game plan) is over with. When his back's to the wall, he's going to give it up and go for it, too.

"If the crowd gets going, me and Barrera might end up in the hospital eating ice cream."

Tapia, who has a home in Albuquerque as well as Las Vegas, has had some brawls yet isn't a brawler. He relies on quickness, flurries and jabs to gain points with the judges, and he expects this fight with Barrera to go its full 12 rounds.

No legitimate world title is at stake in this fight as the International Boxing Federation recently stripped Tapia of his belt for failing to take an immediate rematch with Manuel Medina.

"Hell yeah, it means something," Tapia said of not having a title at this time. "Every fighter in the world looks forward to getting a belt and I worked hard and they took it away from me.

"I had no choice. But the belt didn't make me."

Tapia has never been stopped and the two losses on his record, each to Paulie Ayala, could have gone either way. "I've never really lost," Tapia claims. "I only lost to a promoter, not a fighter."

The latter is a shot at Top Rank's Bob Arum, who, Tapia believes, swayed the judges in both of the Ayala-Tapia fights to side with Ayala.

That ridiculousness aside, Tapia sounds content about his stature and position in the sport and he looks forward to getting into the managerial or promotional end of it after he retires.

"I want to be smart and retire at the right time," he said. "I've made my mark and made good money in this game. I've got money and I've been blessed.

"I've done everything in boxing a person can do."

But the business at hand is Barrera, and Tapia isn't saying anything to inflame his upcoming opponent.

"We don't need to talk s- - - to build this fight up," he said. "I've got all the respect in the world for him. He's the biggest name in the division (and) this is another chance for me to prove myself against the best."

Initially a world champion at 115 pounds, Tapia is now fighting at 126 and says weight is not an issue as he's at 125 today.

"I've been fighting for 26 years," he said, with his pro career dating from 1988. "I was the king at 115 and now I'm fighting the king at 126.

"I'm always the little guy, but after I win I'm the big guy."