With Johnny Tapia, the more things change (and trust us, they always do), the more things stay the same. This Saturday night at the Theatre in Madison Square Garden Tapia will be fighting on his new network (at least as of now) and gunning for his fifth world title in his third weight class.

But there is something that will be very familiar to Tapia on Saturday night -- trainer Jessie Reid is back (again) in his corner. Tapia and his wife/manager Teresa throughout the years have shuffled trainers in and out at a pace that rivaled the turnover of New York Yankees managers during the helm of owner George Steinbrenner.

Miguel Diaz played the role of Bob Lemon. Adrian Davis would be Stump Merril. Danny Romero Sr. is Bucky Dent as he didn't last long. Dub Huntley and his short run is Dallas Green. Eddie Futch and his short stint with Tapia is comparable to Clyde King. The professional Abel Sanchez is akin to Gene Michael. The respected Freddie Roach is Yogi Berra. Buddy McGirt who had Tapia for all of two bouts is Buck Showalter.

But through it all and in between all the comings and goings, there has been one man who time and time again has survived and always found his way back. Jessie Reid, meet Billy Martin.

Are they ever really going to get rid of this guy?

"I hope not," said Reid, chuckling at the thought. "I love working with Johnny. I do feel like Billy Martin. But I've always had a good relationship with Teresa and Johnny and we never closed the door and I'm glad that I'm back."

"It's been great," said Teresa, of the return of Reid and the camp they set up in Big Bear. "Everybody is in good spirits, we're happy to have Jesse back. It's brought a lot of security to our camp."

According to her, some of the past decisions to let go of Reid were heat of the moment impulses that got in the way of sound judgment.

"I think we're all in agreement that Jessie has worked with us and we've worked hard with him," she said. "What people have to understand is that boxing is a very emotional sport for the fighter and just because somebody's not in the corner at that particular time it does not mean there's so much bad blood. It just means that emotions are high. You just sometimes have to take time off and be able to evaluate situations and then maybe you know that was the best team you had."

With Tapia you have to be realistic, you just know that they will never have their Joe Torre. But the bottom line is that in his fractured stints as manager for the 'Bronx Bombers', Martin won plenty of games and two World Series titles. And it's evident by watching the rapport that Reid has with Tapia that there is a certain chemistry between the two. Tapia will be a ball of energy no matter who trains him, but Reid has a way of prodding and encouraging Tapia like no other. If you want proof of his corner work, just watch the in-between banter the night Tapia thoroughly out-boxed arch nemesis Danny Romero.

But the truth is that Tapia is one of those rare fighters that you just wind him up and go. His zeal for boxing combined with his natural abilities have allowed him to succeed despite all the changes in his corner. In many respects, he trains himself. And with his last fight being in July and his March date going down the tubes with Naseem Hamed's pullout, Tapia is more than ready to go against Medina.

"I'm tired of training, I'm bugged, I'm frustrated," admitted Tapia after a brisk workout at the Big Bear Training and Fitness Center that included some heavy duty sparring with the likes of Israel Vazquez, who himself has a world title fight coming up in a few weeks against WBC 122-pound titlist Willie Jorrin. "How many times can you peak? How many times can you look good? Now, they're telling me to hold back and I can't. You put that horse in the stall and he's ready to go. I'm ready to go."

One thing that has made this elongated training camp much more bearable is the fact that Tapia no longer has to struggle to make weight. Tapia, is now a full-fledged featherweight.

"If you really understand that I stayed so many years at 115, I was starving myself," explained Tapia. "I went to 118 starving myself. So I stayed too long down there."

In his storied career, Tapia captured the WBO and IBF titles as a jr. bantamweight and the WBA and WBO belts as a bantamweight. In going for the IBF featherweight crown he takes on a guy that has held a featherweight title on four separate occasions.

"I have all the total respect for Manuel Medina, four-time world champion," said Tapia. "He's one of the best out there. Am I really a featherweight? Yes I am, I grew into it, I took my time and I'm a lot bigger and stronger that a lot of the other 126-pounders. I think I've proven that by my last three fights."

And Tapia has a historical grasp of what he could achieve on Saturday night.

"Going for a fifth world title is just unbelievable, if you count it out, there's only about five world champions that have five world titles. It's a blessing."

Reid expects a tough fight from the tough Mexican, who won his current belt in November from Frankie Toledo.

"He's very busy, very durable, gets up when you knock him down, always in top condition, does get cut real easy and is a slow starter," said Reid, in giving a scouting report of Medina. "We're going to try and capitalize on those things. We're going to let him know he's in a fight right off the bat."

It should be an interesting and fast paced boxing match. While neither guy is considered a big puncher, both are crafty boxers with good hand speed. Expect plenty of brisk exchanges in between all the boxing that's expected to take place. But Reid says Tapia should be able to cope with anything Medina throws at him because of his growth as an all-around fighter.

"At the beginning, Johnny was a real tough kid," explained Reid. "He'd come in just like a bull-fighter, he'd come in and just fight, fight, fight. Now, he starting to use his ring generalship and he's starting to work off of angles. He's really showing people more dimensions, so it's a nice thing working with him through all these stages."

And according to the veteran trainer, who also works with IBF lightweight king Paul Spadafora, like a Bernard Hopkins or a fine wine, Tapia has aged well.

"He's 35 with a 25-year-old mind and body," states Reid. "He's never gotten old, seems like he's getting younger instead of older."

Which seems like an incredible thing to say, after all the abuse that his body and mind have had to endure. Remember, this is a guy that has more than once been considered clinically dead. Talk about beating the count.

Last year was an especially turbulent one for the guy they called 'Mi Vida Loca' and 2001 was just that -- his crazy life. It seemed that every other week or two reports would surface that Tapia would be battling himself and his inner demons. There was even talk that he would retire. But as of right now, things are relatively tranquil for Tapia.

"My life is beautiful," said Tapia, "with me being married, I've got two beautiful kids that I adore. That's my passion and when I have problems I have an agent named Bob Case that helps me and guides me and then tells me to take a step back. I can't complain. I'm still alive and I'm doing it day by day."

His wife echoes those sentiments but she knows that living with Johnny Tapia will always be an adventure.

"With Johnny, that's why they call him 'Mi Vida Loca' if I said everything was perfect I'd be lying, if I'd say it wasn't, I'd be lying," said Mrs. Tapia. "We just take it one day at a time and one step at a time. Right now, he's healthy and he's doing well."

A win against Medina could land him a huge payday against Hamed -- his aborted March date was to have co-headlined both he and 'the Prince' as a prelude to a late summer showdown. Hamed and HBO look at Tapia as the perfect foil to rebuild the reputation of Hamed who got beheaded by Marco Antonio Barrera last year. Tapia, isn't having any of it. To him, 'the Prince' has been just a bit too pampered, too spoiled with excess and entitlement to truly have the character to beat a guy like himself who has gone through the things he has. Tapia has a different script for this fight. And to Tapia, he's the leading man, not the supporting actor.

"First of all, I respect all fighters just for being in the ring," said Tapia. "'The Prince' knows he's been taken care off, I'll tell him to his face, to his manager, whatever. He's been taken care off for every fight that he's fought. [Hamed's] been bought with all the championships, when he does fight a fighter like Barrera, [Barrera] took him to another level. I'm not an opponent and I will never be an opponent. I'm not the type to say, 'Just hit me' and take the money and go. Money is not my God. My faith in life is my God, but winning's everything to me."

GREATEST ATHLETE?

Watching Tapia work out last week reminded me once again how ridiculous it is for anybody to say that Tiger Woods is somehow the world's greatest athlete. First of all, golf is a game, not a sport. A sport, means you have athlete's participating in it. Golf is pool with much more walking involved.

Tapia was sharp in sparring, showing good hand speed and deft footwork. He put on an impressive display of jumping rope and was just generally bouncing off the walls like a pinball. Now, this was an athlete honing his skills. You're telling me that hitting a 10-foot putt in absolute silence is as courageous or as difficult as boxing?

Golf is a game and Tiger is the best at it by far. But guys like Tapia, Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds and Marshall Faulk are athletes.

NO EXCUSES, HUH?

Floyd Mayweather told David Mayo, the top-shelf boxing scribe of the Grand Rapids Press, that in addition to injuring his left rotator cuff in the last day of training, he also came into the fight with broken ribs.

This after telling us he had no excuses.

All I can say is that Floyd must have told his teachers back in school that his dog ate his homework on more than a few occasions.