Leavander Johnson

Leavander Johnson
Data
Birth Name	Leavander William Johnson
Weight class	lightweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	December 24, 1969
place of birth	Atlantic City
Date of death	September 22, 2005
Place of death	Las Vegas
style	Left delivery
size	1.75 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	42
Victories	34
Knockout victories	26th
Defeats	5
draw	2
No value	1

Leavander Johnson (born December 24, 1969 in Atlantic City , New Jersey , † September 22, 2005 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was an American professional boxer .

Life

Leavander Johnson began his professional career after 120 amateur fights in 1989 at the age of 19.

In March 1994 he managed a victory over the undefeated eventual world title holder Sharmba Mitchell . He was clearly behind on points, but was able to win the fight with a knockout .

As a result, he earned a title fight against the recognized number 1 in the class, the WBC World Champion Miguel Ángel González , but was defeated on August 6, 1994 by technical knockout in the eighth round.

In the next three years he played only four fights, but he won all of them and thus got another chance at a world championship fight on May 10, 1997. Johnson failed, however, in the second attempt to win a recognized world title, he lost prematurely against the WBA title holder Orzubek Nazarow. Nazarov was also undefeated and universally recognized.

After this renewed disappointment, he took a two-year break from boxing and did not return to the ring until July 1999. But already in June 2001 he lost again in a fight for the continental title of the WBC against his compatriot Michael Clark, Clark had previously been severely knocked out against Artur Grigorian . Slowly the impression solidified that despite his talent, Johnson would not be able to reach the absolute top, as he regularly failed at the crucial moments.

In 2002 he defeated Jesus Zatarin, who had not won his last six fights, on points. He fought a draw against Emanuel Augustus , in the USA despite his record of 26-19-4, and then competed in an IBF elimination match against Julian Wheeler (22 wins in 30 fights). He won wafer-thin on points.

He met on November 22, 2003 on the Mexican Javier Jauregui (ten defeats, two draws, partly featherweight) in the fight for the vacant belt of the IBF and was again defeated.

In 2005, the IBF title was vacant again, Johnson finally succeeded after 16 years as a professional at the age of 35 to win a title in his fourth attempt. He defeated the 39-year-old European champion Stefano Zoff (nine defeats at the time) in Milan by technical knockout in the seventh round.

In his first title defense against the Mexican Jesús Chávez on September 17, 2005 in Las Vegas , he suffered severe head injuries. Despite many serious hits by the referee, the fight was only stopped in the eleventh round. Immediately after the end of the fight he was taken to hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage , but an emergency operation to remove the blood clot from the right hemisphere could not save him. He died of heart and kidney failure five days later. He left four children.

Web links

• Leavander Johnson in the BoxRec database

predecessor	Office	successor
Julio Diaz	Lightweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) June 17, 2005 - September 17, 2005	Jesus Chavez