Honoring Johnny Tapia: A festival, a lounge, and family in the ring
· Yahoo Sports
Saturday
Boxing: Josh Torres vs. Diego Gonzalo Luque, Clinton Chavez vs. Eduardo Monrreal, several other fights
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Where: Leo’s bar at 12th & Candelaria NW.
When: Doors open at 5 p.m.
Tickets: tickets.tapiapromotions.com, $30-$130
Johnny Tapia died on May 27, 2012, after a boxing career that produced five world titles and made him an Albuquerque icon.
Accordingly, Teresa Tapia, the legendary fighter’s wife, has scheduled a pro boxing card for Saturday in her late husband’s beloved hometown. At least two of the couple’s three sons, Johnathan and Johnny Jr., are planning to perform in the ring that night.
That’s not all. Teresa is making a day of it: food trucks, jumpers with a water splash for the kids, then boxing — all outdoors in the parking lot of Leo’s bar at 12th and Candelaria NW.
“This is just more of a festival to honor Johnny,” Teresa said.
But that’s still not all, not even close. The bottom floor of Leo’s, a venerable North Valley establishment formerly known as Leonardo’s, now houses The Tapia Fite Lounge — a standing memorial to the late world champion that also serves as a training and sparring venue for the city’s boxers.
It’s a sports bar with live entertainment of the pugilistic kind.
Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres (29-7-2, 16 knockouts), who’s scheduled to fight Saturday’s main event in an eight-round bout against Argentina’s Diego Gonzalo Luque (21-17-2, 10 KOs), loves the concept.
“It’s cool, man, I like it,” Torres said Thursday night at Leo’s before beginning the final sparring session of his fight preparation. “… It reminds me of the old-school Tapia days where everybody comes on sparring days and shows up and it’s like pickup basketball but it’s pickup sparring.
“So it’s a lot of fun.”
Torres, as well, is all in favor of anything that honors Johnny Tapia. He was training with the legendary champion at the time of his death and was a pall bearer at his funeral.
The Tapia Fite Lounge concept had its germination, Teresa said, at her most recent promotion Jan. 9 at El Nuevo Cananas Night Club on east Central.
Bar owner/restauranteur Leo Nuñez, who owns Leo’s, also owns Cananas. Teresa told Nuñez that night she was planning to reopen a Tapia boxing gym, which has had multiple locations in the past.
“(Nuñez) said, ‘I love the fight game. How can I help?’” Teresa said. “… I started thinking, the wheels started turning, and I said, ‘Let’s do Tapia Fite Lounge.’”
The room is all boxing during the day with the bar closed, she said, punching bags hung in one area and a ring set up in another.
The bar opens at around 7 p.m. Patrons can choose to watch televised fights above the bar or live sparring sessions in the ring.
Torres, who said Thursday he was planning a light session with his fight just nine days away, wound up taking all comers.
At the bar entrance is a giant photo of Johnny Tapia, flanked by photos of sons Johnny Jr. on the left and Nicco Tapia on the right.
People come in, Teresa said, just to see that display.
“Some people stick around, some don’t,” she said. “But I always tell them, ‘Take pictures.’”
The Tapia legacy
Nicco Tapia (1-0 as a pro), his mother said, was scheduled to fight on Saturday’s card but likely will not because of a time conflict.
Johnny Jr. (1-0, one KO) is scheduled to face Andrew Flamm (1-2), an Albuquerque native who lives in Durango, Colorado.
Johnathan Tapia (0-1) is planning a return to the ring after a 16-year hiatus. He made his pro debut on a March 2010 card headlined by his father at Ohkay Casino Resort near Española.
The chance to honor his late father, Teresa said, motivated Johnathan to shed some 50 pounds in preparation for Saturday. He’s scheduled to face James Anderson (0-5, hometown unavailable).
San Felipe’s Clinton Chavez (8-2, five KOs) is matched against El Paso’s Eduardo Monrreal (3-5, three KOs) in a scheduled six-round bout.
It’s Chavez’s first bout since his fight-of-the-year caliber victory by eighth-round TKO over Hobbs’ Mario Gonzalez in November 2024.
Torres update
Torres, typically one of New Mexico’s busiest fighters, was idle for 18 months (June 2024-December 2025) while rehabbing a wrist injury.
Saturday’s bout will be his third in the past 5 1/2 months, and he’s scheduled to be back in the ring July 31 on a Legacy Promotions card at the Embassy Suites.
Torres has fought in Madison Square Garden and on national TV. At 36 — he’ll turn 37 before the year is out — he wants another big fight, at least one, before he’s done.
“I still feel hungry,” Torres said. “I feel like I have a lot of fight left in me. … I feel good mentally, physically.
“I want to make one last good run, get some big fights and make some noise.”