Johnny Tapia - Telegraph On October 12 1994 Tapia captured the World Boxing Organisation flyweight crown with an 11th round stoppage of Henry Martinez, of El Salvador. Three years later he took the International Boxing Federation crown by outpointing Danny Romero in Las Vegas. Following 13 successful defences, he relinquished his WBO belt to move up to bantamweight, defeating Ghana's Nana Konadu in Atlantic City on December 5 1998 to claim the WBA title. But the following year saw him lose for the first time to Ayala. Tapia was inactive for seven months before returning to win the WBO bantamweight belt from Colombia's Jorge Eliecer Julio, only to lose again to Ayala at Las Vegas nine months later. By 2002 Tapia was in his mid-thirties; but on April 27 he overcame the Mexican Manuel Medina at New York's Madison Square Garden in a grim struggle for the IBF featherweight title, only to lose it to Medina's fellow countryman Marco Antonio Barrera later that year. Thereafter Tapia fought only sporadically . A final comeback yielded three straight victories before he hung up his gloves following a farewell victory over Mauricio Pastrana in Albuquerque on June 4 2011. Johnny Tapia, who was found dead at his home in Albuquerque, is survived by his wife, Teresa, and three children. Johnny Tapia, born February 13 1967, died May 27 2012