Tapia beat Cesar Soto in June and then quit the ring

After meeting Teresa Chavez, the love of his life and now his wife, he gave up drugs and became a world champion - and one of America's most exciting boxers.

"She's given me a reason to live," he said.

Teresa forced him to go into rehab and after two months he was finally clean.

When his boxing suspension was lifted in 1994 he went back to work and reeled off five straight wins.

On 12 October 1994 he won his first world bantamweight title in front of a partisan crowd in his hometown, Albuquerque.

He was unbeaten until June 1999, when he lost on points to Paulie Ayala. He lost by another controversial decision in a rematch in July last year.

Attempted suicide

Tapia says: "I definitely should have won, but you live and learn and move on."

Tapia has suffered bouts of severe depression for years.

Having lost his undefeated record and learned of the death - by drug overdose - of a close friend, he attempted suicide on 30 August this year.

He survived but is still fighting his internal demons, with the final outcome still unknown.

Teresa Tapia... the love of his life

A devout Roman Catholic, who has a tattoo of the Virgin Mary on his chest, Tapia says: "I put everything in the hands of God."

Several film-makers have toyed with the idea of making a Tapia film but none has so far come to fruition.

Perhaps Hollywood is waiting to see how the real story turns out.

Asked who he would want to play him in a film, Tapia said: "Someone rugged looking. They would have to wear their heart on their sleeve."

'Severe depression'

John Beyrooty, a spokesman for boxing promoters Showtime, said: "Johnny Tapia's story is not just the greatest story in boxing, but the greatest story in sports. This is a guy who shouldn't be alive."

Tapia was diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar affective disorder in 1999.

His latest bout of severe depression was brought on by the death of a boyhood friend, Charles Anaya, who suffered a drugs overdose.

His wife and manager, Teresa, admitted her husband had been taken to hospital after trying to commit suicide on 30 August.

Teresa said Johnny had a number of personal issues but was "depressed about everything".

Tapia's shorts are emblazoned "Mama 1942-1975"

Tapia is not the first boxer to have emotional or drug problems. Oliver McCall famously broke down in tears during a world title fight with Lennox Lewis.

But Tapia's life story is so harrowing it makes other fighters' ghetto backgrounds pale into insignificance.

His website is emblazoned with the motto Mi Vida Loca, Spanish for My Crazy Life.

When Tapia was born on 13 February 1967 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, his father - whose identity is unclear - had apparently already been murdered.

He was brought up by his mother, Virginia.

At the age of seven a bus he was travelling in careered off a 100-foot cliff, killing the pregnant woman who was sitting next to him.

Tapia's story is more gripping than any Rocky film

The young Johnny was thrown through a window but escaped with only minor injuries.

In 1975 his mother was kidnapped, brutally attacked and left for dead.

Virginia Tapia was found and taken to hospital, where she died four days later of her injuries.

No one was charged with the murder but the killer's identity was made public by police in 1999.

But the murderer, Richard Espinosa, had been killed in a car crash in 1983.

Asked how it felt that Espinosa had cheated justice, Tapia said: "It hurts very bad, but maybe it's for the best or else I would end up in prison for murder."

Back in training

Teresa says she hoped her husband would pull through and be boxing again before long.

In the weeks before his suicide attempt Tapia was quoted as saying he had retired from the ring.

But now he says he is back: "I'm training right now and yes, I will fight again."

As for opponents he said he was willing to take on Naseem Hamed or "anyone else".