Boxing News : Michael Katz

Michael Katz

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Leavander Johnson Update
by Michael Katz (September 15, 2005) Photo © Tom Hogan HoganPhotos.com

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LAS VEGAS, Sept. 18 - Leavander Johnson made a strong comeback today, but remained in critical condition at the University Medical Center after suffering an 11th-round loss Saturday night to Jesus Chavez at the MGM Grand Arena.

Johnson, 35, married and the father of four children, was given little chance to survive when taken by stretcher and ambulance from his dressing room to the hospital, where he underwent brain surgery.

Craig Johnson, an older brother and Leavander's manager, said the doctors told the family, including Bill Johnson, the former IBF lightweight champion's trainer and father, that Leavander was unlikely to make it through the night.

Dr. Bill Smith, who operated to remove a blood clot on the right side of Johnson's brain, said he gave the game fighter only a 15 percent chance of survival before a monitor inside the brain showed swelling had gone down "significantly."

"When he came in last night," said Dr. Smith this afternoon at the trauma center, "I would have said he wasn't going to make it.

"They had him here and in surgery 40 minutes after the fight and if he survives it will be because of that."

Johnson was put in a medically induced coma to allow his brain to rest and heal, Dr. Smith said. After three or four days, the fighter will be weaned from the chemicals and only then, said the doctor, will the extent of recovery be surmised. For the time being, Johnson still faces an uphill battle.

Johnson, who won the title exactly three months before losing it to Chavez, took a fearful beating before Referee Tony Weeks stopped the one-sided bout at 38 seconds of the 11th round. When Johnson, a pro since 1989 after a distinguished amateur career, knocked out Stefano Zoff of Italy last June, it meant he finally won a world title on his fourth try.

The night before the card at the MGM Grand, featured by Marco Antonio Barrera's lopsided 12-round decision over Robbie Peden, Johnson told Dave Weinberg of the Atlantic City Press that capturing a world title after all those years meant "they would have to kill me before I lost it."