Editing Johnny Tapia (section)

===Super flyweight===

====Early years====
Tapia's professional boxing career began on March 25, 1988, when he fought Effren Chavez in [[Irvine, California]]. After four rounds of boxing the fight was called a draw. He won eight fights that year, five by knockout, of which four were in the first round.
In 1989, he won seven more fights, including a first-round knockout of Abner Barajas and an eight-round decision against [[John Michael Johnson]].

In 1990, he won seven bouts, including an eight-round decision over [[Jesus Chong]], an eleventh-round technical knockout of Roland Gomez in [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]] that gave him the USBA super flyweight title, and a twelve-round decision over Luigi Camputaro, to retain that title. Tapia was, by the end of the year, a known boxer, his name often appearing in magazine articles. However, his career came to a halt for the next three and a half years after being suspended from boxing for testing positive for [[cocaine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxingscene.com/johnny-tapia-fails-drug-test-rehab--9911 |title=Johnny Tapia Fails Drug Test in Rehab - Boxing News |publisher=Boxingscene.com |date=2007-08-14 |access-date=2012-05-28}}</ref>

When he finally returned to the ring on March 27, 1994, he beat Jaime Olvera by a knockout in four rounds in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]]. He won three more fights by knockout, and then he faced Oscar Aguilar on the [[Michael Carbajal]]&ndash;[[Josué Camacho]] undercard in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] for the NABF super flyweight title, winning in three rounds. Five days later the Albuquerque Police claimed they found cocaine after the fight in a bag carried by Tapia. Tapia claimed what the police found was only a soap bar, and the charges were eventually dropped.

====First world title====
On October 12, 1994 at The Pit, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tapia defeated [[Henry Martínez (boxer)|Henry Martínez]] in eleven rounds to win the vacant WBO super flyweight title. He then knocked out former champion [[Rolando Bohol]] in the second round. In his first title defense, Tapia defeated Jose Rafael Sosa by decision.

He retained the title with a nine-round technical draw with Ricardo Vargas and a decision in twelve against his onetime nemesis in the amateur ranks, [[Arthur Johnson (boxer)|Arthur Johnson]]. After two more wins, he gave Willy Salazar a title shot, knocking him out in nine rounds.
In 1996, he fought six more times, keeping his undefeated record and defending the title five additional times during that period, which included wins against Giovanni Andrade, Ivan Alvarez, future champion [[Hugo Rafael Soto]], Sammy Stewart and Adonis Cruz. By then, a heated rivalry was cooking up between him and [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]] champion [[Danny Romero (boxer)|Danny Romero]]. Their rivalry had begun many years earlier when Romero's father trained both boxers. Tapia's split with the Romero family had not been on good terms.

====Tapia vs Romero unification====
1997 saw Tapia fend off a challenge from [[Jorge Barrera]] in three rounds. After that, the fight with Romero was set for [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]]. The fight took place on July 18. Tapia won by a unanimous twelve-round decision, adding the IBF title to his WBO belt. In his next fight, he defeated [[Puerto Rico]]'s [[Andy Agosto]] via decision to retain the titles. Tapia began 1998 by successfully defending his championships for the 11th time against former world champion [[Rodolfo Blanco]] of [[Colombia]] via decision, and then he vacated his world titles in order to move up in weight.