Mi Vida Loca these were the words indelibly etched into the flesh of late boxer Johnny Tapia, who did justice to those words by living a crazy, topsy turvy life, brimming with harsh memories, highest of highs and some of the lowest of lows.
The latest HBO Sports documentary Tapia airing Tuesday Dec 16 at 11pm EST, fully examines the life of Johnny Tapia, a life lived hard, gritty and on the run. Tapia was a prisoner of his own self, haunted by memories of his mother being stabbed before his eyes at eight-years-old and a father who deigned to appear in his life. It sounds cliche, even through the complexities of Tapia’s rise, fall, rise and fall some more, but the uniqueness in his tale is that there is no true happy or sad ending, because the story was never truly ours to learn from. Tapia’s demons were of his own, the only thing owed to us were his thrilling leave-everything-in-the-ring bouts which dazzled spectators.
Tapia is a look into the grungy lens that was Tapia’s life. Through a series of near-fatal drug overdoses, a lengthy prison stint and redemption in the ring, the 60-minute film throws a lot of life at you with no speed limit in sight. Director Eddie Alcazar made sure to hold no punches (no pun intended) as the film opens with Tapia baring his soul, reflecting on the past and holding tomorrow’s journey in the distance, seemingly focused on what he’s survived thus far.
The theme of life and death are never too far from the film’s driving points, with boxing promoter and the film’s producer Lou Di Bella stating:
“It’s almost like watching a self eulogy in a way, watching him tell his life story.”
And in a way, Di Bella is too true, we are watching this film in rewind, with Tapia’s life having ended May 27, 2012. This is a journey through a haphazard maze, meandering through different chapters of this thing called life. While everyone’s got a story to tell, Tapia’s doesn’t aim to narrate with the intent of the listener deciphering the moral, it just flat-out tells how it is, no lessons, no sugar coating, just facts.
Widow Theresa Tapia perhaps summed it up best: “Watching this documentary, all he wanted to do in his life was fight,all he ever wanted to do was love people and make his life worth something.”
He lived his life to the fullest in-spite of the hurdles and the film did right by Tapia and his family by capturing his zest for life with his only true apologies coming in the form of forceful blows in the ring.
Here’s a glimpse into the truly crazy life of the man destined to embrace every waking moment of it.