Kevin Johnson has faced a who’s who of heavyweights over the course of a 20-year career, including Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois and Vitali Klitschko.
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The contender-turned-journeyman managed to take Klitschko the distance in 2009 and did the same with Fury three years later, losing both via unanimous decision, before being stopped in the second round by Joshua in the Brit’s thirteenth fight, one year before he would win his first world title.
Johnson – who has moved Russia and changed his name to Kevin Vladimirovich – has also fought and lost to the likes of Daniel Dubois (UD), Martin Bakole (TKO 5) and Andy Ruiz Jr (UD). None of the men mentioned hit him harder than an Australian heavyweight known as ‘The Lionheart’ – as revealed in an interview with Sport Express.
The names of Fury, Joshua and Klitschko were put to ‘Kingpin’, but he stuck to his original answer.
“No, Alex Leapai is the physically strongest boxer I have ever met in my life. Not only in a fight – I then went back to Australia, lived there for a while, and we sparred together every day. He is powerful.”
Alex Leapai is a one-time world title challenger with 32 wins from a total of 44 fights, 25 of those coming by way of knockout. He was beaten by Johnson in 2012 after going on a run of 17 bouts undefeated. He lost via fifth round stoppage to Wladimir Klitschko two years later after a one-sided affair.
The hard-hitting Aussie was last out in 2019, a short-notice fight against former world titlist Joseph Parker in which he lost via tenth round TKO.