Former boxing champion Johnny Tapia back in NM jail after urine tests positive for cocaine use

Ex-boxing champ back in New Mexico jail

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Former five-time world champion boxer Johnny Tapia is jailed in New Mexico again, this time for reportedly failing a drug test.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Detention Center says Tapia’s urine tested positive for cocaine and he was returned to jail Thursday. Tapia was undergoing the test as part of the conditions of his release into a community custody program rather than remaining behind bars on a probation violation.

The 43-year-old Tapia has a career record of 57-5-2 with 29 KOs. He returned to the ring for the first time in three years with a fourth-round technical knockout over Carlos “El Gallo” Sanchez on March 7 at the Ohkay Casino.

Tapia was jailed last July for leaving town and going to Red River, N.M., which violated the terms of his probation. Tapia was suspended from boxing from October 1990 to March 1994 after testing positive for cocaine.

Information from: KOB-TV, www.kob.com