The great John Lee “Johnny" Tapia, five-time world boxing champion and one of the few to join the exclusive club of boxers who have won world titles in three different divisions, may finally get the treatment he needs to end a decades-long drug problem that began in his teens. Now 40 and retired, the former champ recently entered a guilty plea for drug possession and entered an Albuquerque, New Mexico inpatient drug rehab center.

The arrest on drug charges came after paramedics responded to an emergency call on March 12 from his wife and manager, Teresa Tapia, who reported he wasn't breathing. Tapia was taken to an Albuquerque hospital and later recovered, but police said they found three baggies of cocaine in the hotel room where he had collapsed.

Tapia negotiated a plea agreement the day before his case was to go before a grand jury. Under the deal, he was to enter an inpatient treatment program as part of an 18-month probation. The former champ immediately admitted himself into an Albuquerque drug rehab center which specializes in drug rehab for addicts with legal problems.

Last week, the judge in the case agreed to let Tapia leave the rehab center for unspecified medical reasons and transfer to a community custody program that would have involved random drug tests and an ankle monitor. But the drug rehab center called the courts and reported that the former champ had just tested positive for cocaine. Prosecutors asked the judge to reconsider, and the judge agreed. He ordered Tapia to remain at the drug rehab center until more information becomes available.

Tapia started using drugs when he was a teenager, but also started his boxing career at the same time. He soon became an Olympic hopeful, and built an amateur record of 150 wins and 12 losses before turning pro – while he was still taking drugs. He won the National Golden Gloves at light flyweight 1983 and 1985 but lost to Arthur Johnson in the Olympic trials in 1984. He turned pro, and over the next 20 years amassed an impressive record of 55 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws, with 28 wins by knockout.

But Tapia’s career took a dive in 1991 when he was found taking drugs. He was suspended from boxing for three years, and had to start all over again in 1994. Eventually, he won the world Super Flyweight, Bantamweight, and Featherweight championships. Few fighters ever win three separate belts.

Tapia’s nickname, “Mi Vida Loca," means “My Crazy Life" in Spanish. He reveals his incredible life story in his biography, “Mi Vida Loca, The Crazy Life Of Johnny Tapia" published just last year. The former boxer’s past reads like a Hollywood movie, part tragedy, part comedy, part heroic drama. For example, at age eight, Tapia actually witnessed his mother’s kidnapping – she was tied up, taken away and raped and murdered by a strange man. Days later her body was found beside a road, and the man believed to have committed the murder was later run over and killed. His life includes street gangs, crimes, drugs, arrests, even a suicide attempt – and yet he managed to put it all behind him and become a great champion. Well not all – not the drugs.

Now, through an effective drug rehab program, the former ring star has a chance to put the rest of it behind him – the drugs – once and for all. Teresa was quoted this week in the media as saying, “I don't know what it's going to take to get this guy to do what needs to be done, but what I am happy for is the court system – they're not just kicking him to the curb and saying ‘Go to prison. I don't want to deal with you. Get out of my face.’ They're all trying to find a solution and that makes you have faith in our justice system."

Our best wishes are with Tapia, his wife Teresa and their kids – one of whom, Johnny Tapia II, is set to begin his own boxing career. Mi Vida Loca, the great ring veteran, has triumphed over unbelievably difficult situations in his life. We hope he shows the same championship qualities now and, no matter how tough it is, sticks it out through a successful drug rehab program.