TOKYO – The Buccaneers’ mouth-that-roars, Warren Sapp, considered by many (not the least of whom himself) as the NFL’s best defensive tackle, wasn’t the most famous Sapp in Japan at yesterday’s American Bowl preseason game between the Jets and Bucs.
Not even close.
Bob Sapp is the star of the show in this country and the irony is positively staggering.
Bob Sapp, now 28, was a Chicago Bears’ third-round draft pick out of the University of Washington as a guard in 1997 and failed to make the team, becoming the highest pick in that draft class to be cut. After bouncing around, he hooked on briefly with the Vikings and Raiders, and was eventually suspended for steroid use (a charge he still denies).
His NFL career dead, Sapp was so humiliated that he covered the windows of his apartment with sheets so no one could look in. A short time later, he found himself nearly broke and was about to take a job with a morgue moving bodies for $125 each, when his life suddenly changed.
Today, the 6-7, 375-pound Sapp finds himself as a K-1 Ultimate Fighter in Japan, a multi-millionaire who’s arguably the most popular and sought-after figure in the country.
To cap it all off, he was hired by the NFL as the spokesman and poster image for the American Bowl in an effort to attract more Japanese to the game.
“After going through all the hardship trying to make the NFL, all of a sudden they’re knocking on my door saying, ‘Can you be The Man for us?’ ” Sapp told The Post before the game. “Now I’m back to being paid by the NFL again as I sit and watch.”
Sapp estimated that between appearances, photo shoots, etc., he’ll make approximately $100,000 from the NFL for this project.
“My world is so surreal,” Sapp said. “No one can write down all the crazy things that have happened for me, and coming back to work for the NFL is the most ironic part of all.”
By the end of 2002, Sapp had 10 TV commercials, three books written about him, a rap album and video, a store filled with items of his likeness, a laundry detergent, frozen foods named after him, video games and even a slot machine in his image.
On Aug. 15, Sapp will fight in a K-1 event in Las Vegas that’s planned for pay-per-view on ESPN.
“Everything I do changes the stock market here,” Sapp said. “Everything of mine sells. An envelope with my name on it sells.”
He said Hollywood producers are tugging at him to come back to the States to film action movies, something he plans to do as well.
Lawrence Taylor, a better linebacker than a prophet, was a commentator on a “Tough Man” fight between Sapp and former Bears’ star William “The Refrigerator” Perry (a fight Sapp won, which catapulted his career) and told Sapp: “You’re a nobody today and you’re going to be a nobody tomorrow.”
More irony.
Sapp, with his uncanny fairytale-like popularity, is making upwards of $4 to $5 million a year while Taylor is a fallen star who’s shamefully tumbled out of the spotlight amidst bad investments and scrapes with the law.
Asked if he’s spoken to Taylor since, Sapp laughed and said, “I don’t even think he knows what I’m doing now.”
A Japanese promoter saw Sapp in that Perry fight and brought him to Japan to join K-1. His first fight, April of 2002, drew 20 million Japanese viewers as “The Beast.”
What has followed has been one of the most remarkable rags-to-riches ride ever written.
“I haven’t paid a bill in two years,” Sapp said. “People just give me things.”
What a big Sap!
Name: Bob Sapp
Age: 28
Ht: 6’7
Wt: 375
Occupation: Ultimate fighter
NFL: Bears third-round pick, 1997
After brief stints with Vikings and Raiders, banned for steroid use.
College: University of Washington