Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury may be heavyweight titans – but American boxer Kevin Johnson says none of them are the strongest he has faced.
The 45-year-old veteran, who boasts a record of 36-22-2, has duked it out with some of the division’s finest over two decades. He took his first pro defeat from Vitali Klitschko in 2009, was outpointed by Fury in 2012, and later by Derek Chisora in 2014.
AJ floored him in two rounds in 2015, and he also went the distance with ex-champ Andy Ruiz Jr and Daniel Dubois. But when it comes to sheer power, Johnson tips his hat to Alex Leapai as the “strongest” bruiser he’s tangled with.
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The former IBO international heavyweight champ told Sport Express: “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.”
Although not as renowned as Klitschko, Fury or Joshua, Leapai boasts an impressive 31-8-4 record from 2004 to 2019, securing the IBF Australasian, WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental heavyweight titles. His career pinnacle was in April 2014 when he faced Vitali’s brother, Wladimir Klitschko, for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles, reports the Mirror.
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However, he succumbed to a fifth-round TKO by the Ukrainian, marking his first and only world championship attempt. Leapai and Johnson clashed two years before that fight at Brisbane’s Doomben Racecourse, with the Australian on a 17-fight unbeaten run then.
Despite Johnson winning via a ninth-round TKO, ‘Lionheart’ earned his adversary’s respect as the toughest opponent he has ever encountered. Meanwhile, two of his previous opponents, Dubois and Joshua met on Saturday night in a shocking clash at Wembley Stadium.
Dubois, who went into the fight as a huge underdog, defied all the odds as he sent AJ crashing to the canvas in the fifth round.